What are carbon credits?

Or in other words, charlatans make money off the deceived.

Carbon credits is a concept based on the fact that certain natural resources such as forests store carbon, so the amount of carbon stored offsets the same amount that has been emitted because it was removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis. That means new areas of forest resulting from environmental preservation and reforestation are removing more carbon than systems which are being deforested. Industries which are producing lots of emissions can offset these emissions by investing in conservation initiatives. Carbon credits simplifies this by having estimates of carbon storage and trading these rather than industries needing to research where carbon can be stored and investing directly in them. In principle it works like a tax in that the money received from the polluter is spent where it is needed like how taxes are spent on roads or hospitals etc.

They are Rosary Beads for AGW. You buy them and your sins are forgiven.

Carbon credits are a key component of national and international emissions trading schemes that have been implemented to mitigate global warming. They provide a way to reduce greenhouse effect emissions on an industrial scale by capping total annual emissions and letting the market assign a monetary value to any shortfall through trading. Credits can be exchanged between businesses or bought and sold in international markets at the prevailing market price. Credits can be used to finance carbon reduction schemes between trading partners and around the world. There are also many companies that sell carbon credits to commercial and individual customers who are interested in lowering their carbon footprint on a voluntary basis. These carbon offsetters purchase the credits from an investment fund or a carbon development company that has aggregated the credits from individual projects. The quality of the credits is based in part on the validation process and sophistication of the fund or development company that acted as the sponsor to the carbon project. This is reflected in their price; voluntary units typically have less value than the units sold through the rigorously-validated Clean Development Mechanism

A permit that allows the holder to emit one ton of carbon dioxide. Credits are awarded to countries or groups that have reduced their green house gases below their emission quota. Carbon credits can be traded in the international market at their current market price.

A carbon credit is usually equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e). A carbon credit can be used by a business or individual to reduce their carbon footprint by investing in an activity that has reduced or sequestered greenhouse gases at another site.

Its a scam . You buy a carbon credit and you hope and trust the person plants a tree somewheres ? Or the Carbon credit dealer pays his bills with it.