Carbon Offsets And Climate Change Mitigation

Understanding the Carbon Offset Commodity, and Whether You Want to Buy or Invest In It

What you'll learn
Understand the 30+ year history of carbon offsets
Explore the definition of and key criteria for qualifying as a carbon offset
Understand why carbon offsets have proven to be so challenging and contentious
Understand the issues associated with buying or investing in carbon offsets
Explore the carbon offsets literature
Requirements
No carbon offsets experience required.
Description
Carbon offsets have been a popular climate change mitigation option for individuals and companies alike, but they have also been very contentious. This course provides you with an in-depth understanding of what kind of commodity carbon offsets are, how they have evolved, the biggest challenges offsets have encountered when it comes to delivering climate change mitigation, and where offset markets might be headed next.  It answers several key questions: What defines a carbon offset?How long is long enough to demonstrate the permanence of carbon offsets?How much leakage is too much when it comes to getting qualified as a carbon offset?Why is additionality so important to the environmental integrity of carbon offsets?Why is additionality so hard to get right, even with best efforts?What's the single most important thing that would improve the integrity of offset markets?What's the role of nature-based solutions in carbon offsets?Where are carbon offset markets headed?How can you dig deeper into carbon offsets on your own?If you're new to carbon offsets and carbon markets, or are considering purchasing or investing in carbon offsets, take advantage of this course to leverage thousands of hours of carbon offsets experience. Your instructor worked on the first carbon offset project 35 years ago, and many other offset projects since then. He is widely published on carbon offset topics including additionality and the environmental integrity of carbon offsets, and has spent thousands of hours curating carbon offsets information and knowledge in the Climate Web, a comprehensive climate change knowledge management solution developed over the last 10 years.   

Overview

Section 1: Introduction to the Course

Lecture 1 Introduction

Lecture 2 Background the Carbon Offsets

Section 2: Understanding the Requirements of a Carbon Offset

Lecture 3 Defining a Carbon Offset

Lecture 4 Offset Permanence

Lecture 5 Offset Leakage

Lecture 6 Offset Additionality - Introduction

Lecture 7 Additionality - Why So Critical to Environmental Integrity?

Lecture 8 Why Additionality is So Hard to Get Right

Lecture 9 Given the Challenges, What's Reasonable to Expect for Environmental Integrity?

Section 3: Evaluating Carbon Offsets as a Tool for Climate Change Mitigation

Lecture 10 Carbon Offset Critiques

Lecture 11 What's Been the Real Problem for Offsets?

Lecture 12 What Does the Literature Say About How We've Done?

Section 4: From Round 1 to Round 2 for Carbon Offsets

Lecture 13 From Round 1 to Round 2

Lecture 14 Nature Based Solutions in Round 2

Lecture 15 Is it Time to Score Carbon Offsets?

Section 5: What Should You Do When it Comes to Carbon Offsets?

Lecture 16 So You Want to Buy Carbon Offsets?

Lecture 17 So You're Considering Investing in Carbon Offsetss?

Lecture 18 Potential Alternatives to Offsets

Section 6: Digging Deeper Into Carbon Offsets

Lecture 19 Carbon Offsets in the Climate Web

Section 7: Course Take Aways

Lecture 20 Course Take Aways

Individuals and organizations considering purchasing or investing in carbon offsets,Anyone wanting to understand the evolution of carbon offsets over the last 30+ years,Anyone wanting to understand the current and potential roles of carbon offsets in mitigating climate change,Anyone interested in improving the environmental integrity of carbon offsets