Gästbloggare
#97 Much of the recent news about Europe hasn’t been so positive. With the success of the right-wing parties in the EU elections it’s hard to feel that Europe currently stands for the kinds of values we might support. But in one area at least – taking responsibility voluntarily for emissions by offsetting – Europe is leading the world.
The newly published Ecosystem Marketplace overview of the voluntary carbon market shows that the majority of the offsets bought and sold globally were transacted in EU countries. Even alongside the EU’s compulsory market, the European private sector is the most prominent buyer type globally for voluntary offsets.
There is a pleasing symmetry at work here, a type of climate justice you might say. Historically Europe is responsible for somewhere between a quarter and a third of the total emissions, counted cumulatively. This map graphically illustrates the point:
So it seems only fair that Europe should take a large share of the responsibility for the resulting problems. When it comes to voluntary offsetting, this is happening: in 2013 Europe bought around two thirds of the offsets, and contributed half the global market value.
Unfortunately the voluntary carbon market is only a drop in the ocean when it comes to tackling climate change: the number of credits transacted in 2013 represented CO2 reductions roughly equal to the annual emissions from Romania. But at least it’s something and we can perhaps feel a little proud that it’s companies in Sweden and other European countries that are leading the way.
For further insights into how the regions of the world compare on wealth, population, consumption, historical and current emissions, poverty and risk from climate change, see these fascinating interactive maps: http://www.carbonmap.org/
Detta är inlägg #97 i initiativet #blogg100 som går ut på att skriva minst ett blogginlägg om dagen i 100 dagar med start den 1 mars 2014
