Step 1: Project Identification and Development
Initiating Projects: Organizations, companies, or individuals initiate projects aimed at reducing or offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. These projects can include activities like reforestation, renewable energy installations, methane capture, and more.
Step 2: Measurement and Verification 2. Emission Baseline: The project developers establish a baseline for emissions – a measurement of the emissions that would have occurred without the project.
Emission Reduction: The project's actual emissions are measured, and the reduction in emissions due to the project is calculated.
Step 3: Carbon Credits Generation 4. Carbon Offset Calculation: The difference between the baseline emissions and the actual emissions is the carbon offset. One carbon credit typically represents one metric ton of CO2 equivalent reduced or removed from the atmosphere.
Verification Process: Independent third-party organizations verify the emission reductions and project validity through rigorous auditing processes.
Step 4: Carbon Credit Certification 6. Carbon Credits Issuance: Upon successful verification, carbon credits are issued for the amount of emission reductions achieved by the project.
Registry Entry: The issued carbon credits are recorded in a carbon credit registry, ensuring transparency and preventing double-counting.
Step 5: Carbon Credit Purchase 8. Buyers: Individuals, businesses, governments, and organizations looking to offset their carbon emissions purchase these carbon credits as a way to compensate for their own emissions.
Marketplaces: Carbon credit marketplaces facilitate the buying and selling of these credits, connecting buyers with projects that align with their values.
Step 6: Impact and Reporting 10. Emission Reduction Impact: The purchased carbon credits represent a commitment to reducing or offsetting an equivalent amount of emissions elsewhere.
Reporting and Transparency: Buyers receive documentation and certificates verifying their carbon offset contributions, enhancing transparency and accountability.
Step 7: Funding Regeneration and Projects 12. Funding Grassroots Projects: The funds generated from carbon credit sales are funneled back into the projects that generated the credits. This financial support aids project development and sustainability.
Environmental and Social Benefits: Projects funded by carbon credit sales have direct positive impacts on the environment, local communities, and economies. This could include creating jobs, enhancing biodiversity, and improving living conditions.
Step 8: Continuous Monitoring and Renewal 14. Ongoing Monitoring: Projects continue to be monitored to ensure they maintain the expected emissions reductions over time.
Renewal and Recertification: Carbon credits are typically valid for a certain period, after which the project's emissions reductions must be verified again to renew the credits.
By participating in the voluntary carbon credit market, individuals and organizations can contribute to global emission reduction efforts, support sustainable development, and actively engage in a market-driven approach to combat climate change.
“Food is connected to all of what we do and who we are as tribal people, and education is key to changing the trajectory of the tribe’s trauma”.
“We’re on the verge of true co-management of our aboriginal homeland. That’s huge,”
