Give offsetting some credit

摘要

Carbon offsetting is seen as the act of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Like emissions trading, offsetting can be seen as the paying for emission reductions elsewhere instead of reducing one's own. But unlike the regulated process of emissions trading, carbon offsets generally refer to voluntary acts by individuals or companies that are arranged by commercial or not-for-profit carbon-offset providers. Nonetheless some formal standards for voluntary carbon offsets are emerging. A wide variety of offset methods are in use, including tree planting, renewable energy schemes, and methane capture schemes.