What is a Carbon Credit?

A  Carbon Credit is a licence to pollute an amount of CO2, normally 1 tonne.

The Australian government is introducing a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme starting in 2010.  This will  mandate large companies to reduce their CO2 emissions or purchase carbon credits (aka carbon offsets) .

Australia has the oldest and second largest carbon credit trading system in the world based in NSW.   But most of the world's carbon credits are used within Europe.  



Carbon Credits


CER offers a range of carbon credits and can assit companies to create them
  
Large companies already have to monitor report their CO2  emissions and very soon will be required to reduce them.  Some companies will find it difficult and will need to purchase credits as offsets but those companies that reduced their emissions byy  more than their requirements will be able to ‘trade’ excess permits to other, more polluting  enterprises.

A carbon footprint is usually expressed as tonnes of CO2 and 1 tonne of CO2 avoided represents 1 (one) carbon credit.  These carbon credits are created through an emission abatement project which involves the formal creation  of a methodology that prevents or reduces the amount of greenhouse gas being emitted into the atmosphere.

According to the World Bank the global market in carbon trading tripled to $US30billion in 2006 of which  $US25billion of that was in a compulsory emissions trading scheme set up two years previous by the European Union. 

This market grew by more than 50% during 2007 and is expected to continue at this rate throughout 2008.  More  pleasing is that more than 16% of 2006’s total came from a voluntary world market so sophisticated it has already taken on most of the characteristics of more traditional markets such as gold and oil.

PricewaterhouseCoopers estimate that 600 billion tonnes of carbon emissions projected to be emitted over the next 43 years will have to be avoided to stabilize the climate. 

CER CARBON ABATEMENT PROJECTS
CER can create Carbon Abatement Projects and assist you to achieve a reduction in emissions and even create a new profit centre.

The reporting and logistics of  a carbon abatement program can be difficult.  CER offers  a 'one-stop-shop' for financing and marketing of your project.

The IFR  mentioned in the previous section is an excellent example, CER will also create a methodology to establish a Carbon Abatement Project which then produces the carbon credits. 

These methodologies can take between three and twelve months to create depending on the complexity and therefore result (in terms of number of credits that will be achieved). 

CER MARKETING
Australia is now only twenty months from the establishment of an emissions trading scheme and mandatory carbon abatement market where if we follow the European Model, heavy penalties will be imposed on offenders.  In addition to the ever-increasing awareness of climate change and widespread desire to do the right thing by the environment, a key driver for change in the current voluntary market is companies that want to show off their green credentials.