Climate change is the major challenge of the 21st century. In order to mitigate global warming, atmospheric carbon dioxide has to be reduced dramatically. Via instruments designed by the soon expiring Kyoto Protocol and different other measures, the international community aims to realise this carbon reduction. Experts speak of carbon markets. Where companies, organisations and individuals are seeking to neutralise their carbon footprints, financial actors are making enormous profits. But whom does this market really serve? Economy, environment or both? This study intends to increase the understanding of such markets and to analyse strengths and weaknesses for defining possible quality actions. Firstly, an overview of presently existing and developing carbon markets, their differentiation and locations will provide basic comprehension of the current status of carbon trading. Questions about the role of the US or developing nations like China and India will be answered. Who is forerunner in this market? Afterwards, this work will concentrate on non-binding or so called voluntary carbon transactions. The reader will learn about the supply structure of non-compliance carbon trading and market drivers. Major project types will be discussed as well. Furthermore, the question will be raised if offsetting or voluntary carbon trading has an effect on global warming, if it improves the situation - or not. After analysing market structures and participants' motivations, the author will have a closer look on criticism and markets weaknesses, before introducing quality mechanisms. What instruments will open the carbon market for mainstream participants? Which structural changes are necessary to enhance quality in this nascent market? An outlook will be given on how the voluntary carbon market most probably develops. Finally, the reader will be acquainted with voluntary carbon markets and may decide weather or not they are an option to counteract climate change, the major chall

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: Climate change represents an ongoing threat, not only since it attracted growing media attention in recent years. Therefore, scientists urge to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in order to prevent most disastrous consequences. One method, chosen by the international community to achieve this reduction and therewith mitigate global warming, is via the establishment of so called carbon markets. Most famous example is probably the European Emissions Trade System (EU ETS), where pollution allowances can be exchanged among actors. The reduction then is achieved by the setting of a ceiling or cap by authorities. Besides, there are also voluntary carbon markets where actors aim at reducing emissions with self-imposed targets. Objective of this paper will be to elucidate this unregulated market for carbon commodities and understand its functioning. Since voluntary carbon trading was largely criticised for a lack of quality and transparency, methods to overcome such weaknesses shall be presented and evaluated as well. Beginning with an overview of different systems of carbon trading, the reader will subsequently learn about existing and emerging carbon markets, their characteristics and performance. Notably compliance and non-mandatory schemes will be distinguished. Juxtaposition will allow for evaluating strengths and weaknesses of both systems. For gaining an understanding of the supply chain in the voluntary carbon market and comprehend underlying motivations, a presentation of market players will follow in the second chapter. Based on market actors motives, a model for high quality carbon commodities will be established in the third part, whereby criticism is also taken into account. An examination of instruments to enhance quality and to overcome shortcomings of non-mandatory markets will be examined in the following. The fourth chapter will provide an evaluation of and an outlook on the beforehand discussed quality mechanisms. Additionally, different scenarios will be developed in order to predict the future of voluntary carbon trading. Inhaltsverzeichnis:Table of Contents: Acknowledgementsii Executive Summaryiii Table of Figuresx Table of Boxesxi Abbreviations and Acronymsxi Introduction1 1.An Overview of Existing Carbon Markets2 1.1Regulated Markets4 1.1.1The Kyoto Protocol4 1.1.2European Emissions Trading Scheme6 1.1.3Other Planned Trading Schemes under the Kyoto [...]

The world carbon market is growing at a staggering rate with trading volumes into the tens of billions of dollars and approaching a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. The growth prospects for business are enormous and the potential positive impacts for greenhouse gas emission reductions, climate policy options, renewable energy investment, development projects and efficiency gains are increasingly apparent.A key part of the market in greenhouse gas emissions is the rapidly growing voluntary carbon market driven by companies, organizations and individuals committed to efficiency, profitability and rapid action on climate change. HSBC, Volvo, Avis, Ricoh and American Express are but a few of the many companies now offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions and becoming 'carbon neutral', fuelling an international voluntary carbon market that is growing exponentially. This groundbreaking business book, written in a fast-paced journalistic style, draws together all the key information on international voluntary carbon markets with commentary from leading practitioners and business people. The voluntary market is complex, fragmented and multi-layered, but it is beginning to consolidate around a few guiding practices and business models from which conclusions can be drawn about market direction and opportunities.The book covers all aspects of voluntary carbon markets around the world: what they are, how they work and, most critically, their business potential to help slow climate change. It is the indispensable guide for anyone seeking to understand voluntary carbon markets and capitalize on the opportunities they present for economic and environmental benefit. If you want to be ahead of the curve for the next big thing, you need this book.

Explores the potential for financing small-scale high-benefit sustainable development projects through the voluntary and retail sector of the carbon market.

In the past few years, numerous authors have highlighted the emergence of transnational climate initiatives, such as city networks, private certification schemes, and business self-regulation in the policy domain of climate change. While these transnational governance arrangements can surely contribute to solving the problem of climate change, their development by different types of sub- and non-state actors does not imply a weakening of the intergovernmental level. On the contrary, many transnational climate initiatives use the international climate regime as a point of reference and have adopted various rules and procedures from international agreements. Rethinking Authority in Global Climate Governance puts forward this argument and expands upon it, using case studies which suggest that the effective operation of transnational climate initiatives strongly relies on the existence of an international regulatory framework created by nation-states. Thus, this book emphasizes the centrality of the intergovernmental process clustered around the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and underscores that multilateral treaty-making continues to be more important than many scholars and policy-makers suppose. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of global environmental politics, climate change and sustainable development.

This book is open access under a Creative Commons license. This authoritative book presents the ever progressing state of the art in evaluating climate change strategies and action. It builds upon a selection of relevant and practical papers and presentations given at the 2nd International Conference on Evaluating Climate Change and Development held in Washington DC in 2014 and includes perspectives from independent evaluations of the major international organisations supporting climate action in developing countries, such as the Global Environment Facility. The first section of the book sets the stage and provides an overview of independent evaluations, carried out by multilateral development banks and development organisations. Important topics include how policies and organisations aim to achieve impact and how this is measured, whether climate change is mainstreamed into other development programs, and whether operations are meeting the urgency of climate change challenges. The following sections focus on evaluation of climate change projects and policies as they link to development, from the perspective of international organisations, NGO’s, multilateral and bilateral aid agencies, and academia. The authors share methodologies or approaches used to better understand problems and assess interventions, strategies and policies. They also share challenges encountered, what was done to solve these and lessons learned from evaluations. Collectively, the authors illustrate the importance of evaluation in providing evidence to guide policy change to informed decision-making.

Carbon Offsets: The U.S. Voluntary Market Is Growing but Quality Assurance Poses Challenges for Market Participants