The Washington Post today examines the purchase of 30,000 tons of carbon offsets from the Chicago Climate Exchange by none other than the U.S. House of Representatives.
While the story focuses a lot on the projects that are responsible for the offsets – a farm in North Dakota, a power plant in Iowa – it should also be noted that the House’s purchase will undeniably result in less carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere, and for that we congratulate them.
The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is this country’s only formal exchange for buying, selling, and retiring carbon credits. When a member (in this case, the U.S. House of Representatives) purchases tons of CO2 from the exchange, there are really only two things that can happen. Either the buyer has purchased a credit to continue polluting under their CCX-imposed cap, or the buyer has purchased a credit to retire it so that others can’t pollute. Emit or retire. That's it.
The House did the latter, which is also part of what Carbonfund.org does. In addition to supporting verified reforestation and renewable energy projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, our supporters may choose to support the purchase and retiring of carbon credits from the CCX, thus reducing the overall amount CCX members are allowed to pollute.
When we, or the U.S. House of Representatives, Tufts University, the State of New Mexico, or one of the other 200+ members of the CCX (representing a collective 7% of total U.S. emissions) purchase and retire a carbon credit, we essentially rob members of the exchange of the right to emit a ton of CO2 into the atmosphere.
The Post’s article has drawn attention to the House’s voluntary actions; now all we have to do is get the rest of the country involved as well!
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