16/10/2024 – 6:00
So-called carbon credits are a mechanism created as one of the strategies to reduce the process of climate change, especially global warming. Once the consensus was established that the planet is in the process of warming caused by emissions of polluting gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, it was decided that society – countries, companies and people – commit to reducing, or even eliminating, emissions of these gases.
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To this end, agreements made during climate summits and other multilateral meetings, the main one being the 2015 COP in Paris, in which it was established that global warming cannot exceed 1.5ºC in relation to the average temperature of the pre-war period. industrial, the solution was to create staggered emissions reduction targets.
In this period of transition to a low-carbon economy, one of the alternatives is the carbon market, in which companies and countries that manage to exceed their emissions reduction targets can sell this amount of unemitted gases in the form of credits to other companies that still do not achieve their reduction targets.
To do this, you need to create goals and intermediate goals. And it is necessary to encourage companies to emit less or find ways to capture emissions from the atmosphere. This is why the carbon market was imagined and created, to precisely regulate this control of emissions. This way, it is possible to limit the amount of global emissions on the planet.
In the informal market, some companies, although not obligated, are already seeking these compensations. In the regulated market, in places such as the European Union, Japan, Australia, South Korea, an emissions target is established – with a decreasing curve – for each polluting company or country. If they do not reach their targets, they can buy credit from those who have reduced their emissions beyond what was established.
It is agreed that 1 ton of carbon equivalent (gases that contribute to global warming such as carbon dioxide and methane) is worth 1 carbon credit.
Among the initiatives that can reduce the emission of greenhouse gases are the reduction of deforestation, greater use of less polluting energy sources and reduction in the use of fossil fuels.
These credits are certified by specialized institutions and with recognized scientific methodology to calculate and validate emissions and carbon credits.
In Brazil, the carbon credits market remains frozen, awaiting the final approval of a Bill that will soon complete ten years of processing in Congress. Bill 2,148/15, known as Carbon PL, was approved by deputies in December. It now awaits a vote in the Senate and will then have to pass again in the Chamber. The text creates the Brazilian Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System (SBCE).
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