Carbon Footprint

How Much Are Your Worth?
“I Weight a Ton!”

Ever heard that expression? We’ve probably all said it at one time or another, especially after Sunday lunch and a particularly good pud. And indeed, we might all weigh a ton, or more specifically a tonne, if we add up all the carbon emissions we produce each day, just by… living! Only, instead of us weighing this tonne of carbon emissions, it’s sort of floating up around us, helping, they all tell us, to destroy the planet.

Which is where the new businesses of ‘going green’ and carbon emissions trading comes in. First off, a tonne simply equals a ton or 2204.6 pounds (1000 kilograms). And more or less everything we do in our daily lives, and consume, creates a carbon emission which weighs a fraction of that tonne.

For example, a human being generates enough power per day to run a light bulb, for instance, and, burning that light bulb for a day creates carbon dioxide. So if we think of ourselves strolling down the street with an ever growing cloud of carbon emissions hanging above us... You get the picture!

Carbon Waste

So what’s this all got to do with business? A lot. In fact, green issues and carbon emission trading are becoming huge businesses, with major names jumping onto the bandwagon – horse drawn, of course, so as not to create any further carbon waste – although they do say that horse’s manure produces considerable emissions – literally! But natural, of course.

Carbon Emissions Trading

One of the fastest growing new businesses is carbon emissions trading. It works like this: a car manufacturer is granted a certain number of carbon emission ‘credits’ which he can use in the production of his cars. If he has any left at the end of the year, he can sell his surplus ‘credits’ to, say, an airline, who may need them. So a trade is set up; and there are now companies, exchanges, which handle supply and demand for these carbon credits. The credits bought are used to offset the effects of global warming through emissions. The money is used for diverse projects: creating new woodlands, donations to renewable energy projects, education and so on.

We all contribute to this. If you take a plane from London to Glasgow, you (that’s you, yourself, not the other passengers in the plane) have generated 0.09 tonnes of C02. The Carbon Emission cost is £2.50. This cost will either be paid by the airline, or be added to the cost of the ticket, but ultimately, a proportion of this money will help us all maintain our planet.

OINK! has learned that the price of each tonne of carbon dioxide emmitted which is offset is charged at an average consumer price of £8.50. It costs around £2.20 per tonne to operate the scheme, which means that £6.70 is available to be used to reduce global warming.

Is this good for business? You bet it is. Without a planet to live on, where do we work?

back