John Stivers – Carbon Offset

Video Transcript:

Carbon offsets are the financial instruments used in a cap and trade structure.  When someone is producing something with less greenhouse gas emissions or carbon production, they get a bogey that then has a value to those people that can’t get down to the cap.  Often times, like in the example of the cement industry, if I were to switch to solar, my competition is still using coal.  I’m way below the CO2 or greenhouse gas emissions for a ton of cement that I produce.  My competition needs to buy them, and this marketplace uses carbon offsets to reward me and allow him to stay in business, but at a price.