Hannah Gelder: Carbon Consultant
I joke when I call myself a carbon consultant, but maybe one day in the future...So, people are asking what I’m doing here, and here’s my answer. I am researching carbon offsetting initiatives in Senegal and the Gambia and devising potential ways to use the voluntary carbon market to finance offsetting projects in these two countries.
Next question: what is carbon offsetting and carbon financing? You may have heard it as carbon fincancing, carbon accounting, the voluntary carbon market… the titles go on, but essentially it applies a market system to the world’s carbon emissions. Carbon financing is a growing sector in both the private and public sectors. Carbon trading is done on the international level, under the Kyoto Protocol, between developed and developing countries. Developed countries can finance carbon offsetting projects, massive reforestation projects for example, in developing countries, where often there is adequate space, in order to offset their own carbon emissions. This practice is controversial for many reasons. Something, I'd be happy to discuss at a later point in time. Here though, I am focusing on the private sector of carbon accounting.
The voluntary carbon market is growing rapidly. This is for people like you and me, private businesses, event organizers, etc. who want to offset their carbon emissions. You have most likely heard of it in terms of people offsetting their emissions from air travel because this is the biggest way in which we pollute in our lives (1 ton of CO2 is emitted when you fly 2000mi). Also, the latest trend has been to make big events carbon neutral. And this is where the voluntary carbon market enters the scene. On the market, private parties can finance projects that offset or sequester CO2 (or its equivalent).
Another buzz word is green tags. Green tags are, essentially, a receipt indicating that you've paid to offset one ton of CO2. Now there is also a lot of debate on green tags, which, I'd be happy to explain to you, but I truly believe they're a good thing. I don't think they're a solution to global warming. We all need to reduce our emissions...a lot, but it is impossible to live without some carbon emissions. So, after we've tried to reduce our emissions as much as possible (using compact fluorescent light bulbs, energy efficient appliances, driving less… to name just a very few number actions we can take) we can offset the rest of our emissions by buying "green tags." It’s not ideal, but it’s a step in the right direction. Plus, depending on the project that you finance, you can make a huge impact on the environment and lives of the beneficiaries of the project, with just a very small donation.
The projects on this market vary greatly. It is important for consumers to make informed decisions. I do take issue with some of the projects in developed countries, especially wide-scale reforestation efforts. There is a lot of merit in investing in renewable energy projects, like wind farms, through the sale of green tags. I think our green tag money is best spent though, and call me biased, in developing countries like Senegal. And that is the project on which I've been working this semester.
I began this semester by trying to help my NGO (CRESP) figure out how to sell green tags to finance their mangrove rehabilitation and solar oven projects in the ecovillage network in Senegal. The mangrove and solar oven projects have huge implications for the people affected by them. The mangrove ecosystem in my village, for example, was rich and dense in the 70s and due to drought and overcutting, has completely disappeared. Rehabilitating them by planting during every wet season, brings back fish species (source of food and income), prevents shore erosion, sequesters carbon from the atmosphere, prevents the advance of the saline waters which has destroyed farms and the water source, etc. The benefits go on and on. With the solar ovens, it prevents people from cutting trees to use for fuel, has no CO2 emissions when used to cook, improves women's health since they are not cooking over smoky fires, improves family health since they use less oil in the meals, save's the women time since they don’t have to go searching for wood, and provides them with an additional source of income as they can use the oven to bake and prepare other goods to sell, to name just a few of the benefits. It's a small donation with a huge impact.
Now, the project idea has grown, we’ve met with people from the UN Development Program’s Global Environment Fund, and we’re looking at establishing a partnership between the Global Ecovillage Network—Senegal and the Dakar Rally. I calculated a very conservative estimate of the emissions (1,019 tons) of the Dakar Rally (a huge bike/car/truck rally from Lisbon to Dakar during the month of January) and then figured out how many solar ovens (340) or hectares of mangroves (750) would need to be planted, in order to make the event carbon neutral. Imagine the implications. These projects are currently funded by the Global Environment Fund’s Small Grants Program. However, they are looking to diversify their sources of funding. In addition, there is never enough money to take these projects as far as the organizers would like them to go. There are many more villages in the Saloum Delta Region who want to participate in the mangrove rehabilitation project, but there is just not enough money to support the project. The sale of green tags is a good way to increase funding for these projects and other similar ones in the ecovillage network.
So that is what I’m doing in a nutshell. A very big nutshell. Feel free to e-mail me with thoughts, questions, comments, anything. I’ll be traveling for the first couple weeks in April, doing work on these projects. But I welcome all input. I’m new to this field, as most of the world is. But pay attention, because I think the voluntary carbon market is about to become a huge deal.
posted by Hannah Gelder @ 2:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home