(Newswire.net — November 11, 2021) —
Have you observed the turning nature has taken since COVID-19 emerged? Although fatal to humans as a species, the rest of the species seem to be a little tranquil with less pollution in their habitats and lesser interference from mankind.
Recent studies have actually proven that the pandemic has resulted in an increased level of improvement in the air quality across different countries. It has left reduced levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere due to the complete shutdown of the industries and factories across the globe for a considerable amount of time. COVID has also left our water bodies a lot clearer and has decreased all sorts of pollution as well as the strain on the public tourist destinations, which has assisted in the restoration of our ecological system.
But in spite of all this constructive development, there still looms at large the question of what will happen when the lockdown impositions will begin to loosen all over the world? Will humankind reach back to square one without learning the indispensable lesson?
In order for that to not happen, the entire planet needs to stand in solidarity for maintaining the current levels of purity seen in the environment, if not for trying to improve it further still. The industries and multinational conglomerates need to join hands in taking a step further than just CSR activity reports. And among the several steps to be taken towards contributing to a better atmosphere, one of the major steps in controlling greenhouse gas emissions by increasing their carbon offsetting practices.
What Do Greenhouse Gases Do?
A greenhouse gas absorbs and emits the radiant heat energy within the earth’s atmosphere, making the planet warmer than it should have been. This process is called the greenhouse effect, which eventually leads to global warming. The major greenhouse gases include water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.
What Is Carbon Offsetting?
Carbon offsetting is basically an activity or action such as planting trees or carbon sequestration that balances and compensates for the carbon dioxide emissions or other such greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. By practicing the practice of carbon offsetting, one can gain carbon neutrality. Let’s get to know better what this term means.
Carbon Neutrality And Ways To Act Upon It
Carbon neutrality is the state where there are zero carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere by an individual, event, organisation, service, place, or product. This neutrality can be achieved by canceling out or balancing the carbon dioxide emissions or other such equivalent greenhouse gases. There are two ways to accomplish this goal. One way is by removal of carbon dioxide emissions through the process of carbon offsetting, and the other is by eliminating them entirely from society. Total elimination can be seen through the post-carbon economy.
There are various emitters of carbon dioxide—transportation, energy production, industries, and agriculture—that are responsible for the increased greenhouse gas effect on this planet. In order to legalise this entire system of greenhouse gas emissions, there are various laws made by governments. For instance, the Australian government has entered into a partnership with the Climate Active program to regulate carbon credits.
Carbon Credits—Explained
A carbon credit is a term used for any permit or tradable certificate signifying the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or its equivalent amount of any of the greenhouse gases. By following the policy of carbon credits and carbon markets, the international governments endeavour to lessen and monitor the growth in the concentrations of greenhouse gases.
In Australia, there are various types of schemes that can generate carbon credits. In order to generate these credits, the project developers must adhere to scientific methods and stringent guidelines which can analyse how a particular project will reduce emissions. There are strict measurements and verifying processes involved to ascertain that the emission reductions are authentic.
How Is Carbon Offsetting Beneficial?
Let us now keep the process of carbon offsetting under a microscope and get to know why it is so crucial for nature, which includes the water and earth ecosystems and each and every species, including the entire human race, right down to you and me.
Benefits Both Parties
In this world of globalisation, the pros and profits of any action matter a lot. Thus, carbon offsetting as a practice actually proves to be beneficial for both ends of the process—it helps environmental projects that don’t have enough funds of their own as well as the businesses to achieve their desired reduction rates in producing carbon footprint.
Helps Businesses Eliminate Carbon Footprints
There are many companies which are not able to reduce their carbon footprints either because they are already quite less—as the software companies—or there are too many harmful emissions which can’t be helped as they don’t have many alternatives yet—like ocean shipping, heavy equipment, etc. By helping and funding environmental ventures that reduce emissions, businesses can compensate for the emissions they are unable to eliminate themselves.
Enforces Severity Of The Matter
Many still don’t take environmental issues as seriously as they should. For them, these issues are secondary to their own livelihood and lives. For such people, authoritarian and governmental regulations are a must to keep them in check. Gaining carbon credits helps attain such stringent yet critical goals. It gives the supervisory body an instrument to impose environmental policies.
Self Assessment And Customer Satisfaction
Some companies use their carbon offsets to keep a score of their own carbon footprints and aim to make at least some portion of their business carbon neutral or even carbon negative. This they do because the clients who are more aware of the environmental issues prefer to deal with industries with fewer carbon footprints.
Proven Via Research
Innumerable scientific researchers have concluded that carbon offsetting is one of the major ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
If you too are interested and inspired to reduce your company’s carbon footprint, you should invest a little time in research to find some of the best service providers tailored to match your individual needs.