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Carbon markets & exchanges
A carbon market is where carbon emission offsets or permit credits are sold.
There are two types of carbon markets:
Compliance market
In the compliance market, companies, governments, or other entities buy carbon offsets in order to comply with caps on the total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) they are allowed to emit within a Cap & Trade system.
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Voluntary market
In the voluntary market, individuals, companies, or governments purchase carbon offsets to compensate for their own greenhouse gas emissions.
A common example of this is for air travelers to purchase carbon offsets to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions from their flights.
Many airlines offer offsets as you purchase your tickets. For example, Air Canada offers offsets for purchase from Zerofootprint.
See Offset providers for a word about providers
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International exchanges
There are two main global climate exchanges:
Canadian Exchanges
Canada has one active climate exchange:
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Manitoba Green Registry
The Manitoba Government, along with Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and the Canadian Climate Exchange has created the Green Registry for buying and selling offsets.
Because of CSA, users are assured that carbon offsets traded are real. Offsets are validated and verified and each tonne of carbon is serialized. Once it is sold, it is only sold once.
Right now the Manitoba Registry is voluntary. In the near future, the Registry will likely be involved in Manitoba’s commitment to the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). WCI will require emitters of 10 KT or more to report and trade emissions. (For reference, the Health Sciences Centre generated 23 KT in 2005. See also Large Final Emitters)
