Selling Carbon Credits

As mentioned in the previous section, big industries/companies are the major buyers of Carbon Credits, however, not only them. It was stated by the Kyoto Protocol that each nation was responsible for manipulating its domestic fossil fuel emitters to reach the targeted reductions while any countries having difficulties meeting their own emissions targets could reduce their emissions on paper by trading in emissions allowances with countries that already had surplus allowances or by buying directly carbon credits from authorized entities.

The countries that are most producing and buying carbon credits are: New Zealand, Japan, Australia, United States, South Korea, Mexico and India. It is also possible to mention some massive companies that are constantly buying carbon credits such as: Boston Consulting Group, IBM, Delta, Disney, JP Morgan Chase, Salesforce and many other companies from the oil and gas sector.

Besides that, many individuals are buying carbon credits with the aim of reducing their CO2 footprint since most businesses, as most people, would like to make a positive impact on the environment. This is called the voluntary market and is mainly inhabited by individuals, families and privately owned companies. This can be slightly controversial since buying carbon credits is ‘obligatory’ for many companies nowadays, however, it is extremely important to point out the benefits of the carbon credits for: Corporations, Small-businesses and Individuals Corporations.