The Economics of Carbon Accounting and Carbon Offsets
Author | : Geoffrey Heal |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 2022 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1353607487 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (87 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: I provide a rigorous framework for accounting for corporate greenhouse gas emissions, based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. I show that only Scope 1 emissions are of interest from a national policy perspective: that emissions in Scopes 2 and 3 are duplicative, and that downstream Scope 3 emissions in total are equal to total Scope 1 emissions. The correct measure of a company's contributions to national GHG emissions is its Scope 1 emissions plus a part of the emissions of the household and government sectors. This is not generally the same as the level of emissions for which a company bears some responsibility, legal or otherwise. I apply some of these ideas to an analysis of carbon offsets, trying to understand the conditions under which offsets are a valid mechanism for reducing emissions by formalizing the ideas of additionality and leakage.