What's the life of a carbon offset?

The life of a carbon offset begins with an idea. Somebody wants to build a project that will save energy, generate clean electricity, or otherwise reduce greenhouse gases. Unfortunately most such projects just aren’t economically viable. The developer realizes the project will never happen unless there’s another source of revenue.

That’s where offsets come in. By selling the rights to the project’s greenhouse gas reductions as offsets, the developer gets enough money to make the project happen. Depending on the setup, the developer may sell the offsets in advance before the project is built or wait until the project is up and running and the reductions have actually happened.

Often the developer works with an offset provider to connect with people interested in supporting greenhouse gas reduction projects to balance out their own emissions. When these people buy an offset, the provider retires it on behalf of the purchaser. This ensures the offset will never be sold again.

Since this process can be a little complicated, good project developers and offset providers submit to regular audits. This lets you track each offset from creation to retirement.

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