Carbon footprint & trading

From the year 1880 till today average temperature of the Earth has?gone up by?at least 1.1° Celsius (1.9° Fahrenheit) , that’s like as though Earth is having fever now. Just like how when we get fever we have body pain, cough, running nose etc. Earths symptoms are excessive rains, floods, extreme heat and draught. Sitting in the thought bar this week is Global warming and Carbon trade in simple English.

?CAUSES

Burning of fossil fuels and de forestation are the main causes, Our aero planes, Cars and other vehicles release a lot of Co2 into the atmosphere which is visible to us as smoke coming out of the exhaust, there are something invisible that’s the release of ?Methane gas by cows, sheep’s ( grass eating animals),basically the stomach of these animals have 4 distinct chambers ( see pic below) and one of the actually is used for fermentation of what they eat and this produces burps ( just like in humans) ?Each year, a single cow will belch about 220 pounds of methane, and these burps release Ch4 normally known as greenhouse gases. ( see pic below)

KYOTO PROTOCOL

When world leaders recognised that something needed to be done to bring down the temperature of the Earth, they ?gathered in Kyoto Japan ( 1997) and agreed to bring changes to our daily lives which will lead to less emissions. In simple words emission standards (how much Co2 is emitted ?by cars) and ?Green labels are ?symbols printed on products or their packaging to advertise environmental quality or characteristics ( see pic below)

WHAT CAN WE AS INDIVIDUALS DO ??

In short ?to reduce your carbon footprint, you'll want to do things like?reduce the amount of energy you use ( switch off lights, fans, air conditioning when not needed) , eat fewer animal products, shop locally, travel smart ( don’t take your car to the gym instead walk it or cycle) , ?reduce your waste ( use more re-usable products than single use) carry?your own shopping bag than ask for a plastic bag. Use of paper straws rather than plastic straws are a very visible sign of the enforcement being done and DO NOT waste food (producing food and bringing it to your table emits a lot of greenhouse gases) . There are carbon footprint calculators in order for you to understand what is your impact on climate change, one such calculator is?

https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

MAJOR POLLUTORS

China?is the world’s major polluter followed ?by USA and then India, a recent survey showed that Of the 25 most polluted cities in the world, 9 were located in India and 5 in China. Generally larger the car more is the pollution See the chart below to understand how one can contribute towards lower green housed gas emissions. It is estimated that at least 140 million people in India breathe air that is 10 times or more polluted than ?WHO safe limit.

WHAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE

Certain industries are bound to pollute a simple example being?making a plastic ?tooth brush and shampoo , we will continue to make a toothbrush with plastic , will go in our car to buy it from the super market and will use water to rinse our mouth after brushing. In the olden days Neem sticks were used to brush teeth and Shikakai powder to wash hair ( both 100% organic does not pollute) see pic below , these are available in Amazon too these days

CARBON TRADING

I can explain carbon trading with a simple example. You set up a ??factory ABC to make plastic buckets and you are allowed to pollute 50 Mg , and there is a factory ?XYZ ?making Plastic mugs ?who also has a similar permission to pollute up to 50mg. While all goes well but due to some operational efficiency reasons your emissions exceeded and reaches 60Mg, and the other company XYZ making plastic mugs ?emitted ?only 40Mg ?because of operational efficiencies. In such a case you are required to pay cash and buy CARBON CREDITS from the XYZ company or any other who has saved carbon credits like XYZ, this system is in a way encouraging companies to be less carbon polluting.

WHO FIXES THE PRICE

The model used in all current carbon trading schemes is called ‘cap and trade’. In a ‘cap and trade’ scheme, a government or intergovernmental body sets an overall legal limit on emissions (the cap) over a specific period of time and grants a fixed number of permits to those releasing the emissions. Those exceeding this limit will have to go to a CARBON TRADING EXCAHNGE to buy credits.

S&P Global Platts Voluntary Carbon Market price assessments is ?the most in-depth in the market, covering the best range of different projects, China's new emissions trading system (ETS) is already the world's largest carbon market, three times bigger than the European Union's and smart Singapore too have launched itself into the carbon trading market?by creating Climate Impact X (CIX) ?a joint venture between ?DBS Bank , Singapore Exchange, Standard Chartered Bank and Temasek Holdings. Thus a new exchange is born after commodities, stocks and now carbon.

You may want to know that the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund?The Norges Bank Investment Management of Norway which has invested over 1.4 Trillion $ in most of the major companies around the world refrains from investment in companies that pollute the environment. This brings me to the topic of ESG ( Environmental Social and Governance) ?and refers to the three key factors when measuring the sustainability and ethical impact of an investment in a business a topic for another day.