Carbon offsets

A product of the Kyoto protocol were the Carbon Offsets, they are a type of carbon currency, a medium of exchange by which one activity that reduces emissions at a higher cost can be swapped for another that does so at a lower cost. 

However, their benefit seems to be limited and restricted especially looking at Global Trade, the manufacturing units in the world and the ever increasing consumerism that causes this carbon currency to be watered by counterfeit credits that are very difficult in practice to distinguish from the genuine article. 

This causes problems to emerge around fraudulent currency of this kind that seeps from increasing uncertainty about the value of other carbon currencies that in essence makes vulnerable the very value of carbon offsets, its meaning and defies the intent with which it was created.

Now more than ever the Carbon Credits are losing their power as major economies of the world are sliding into recession and the environment is beginning to take a back seat, and survival has become the core focus.
None the less such a policy does hold its place in that it works as an incentive to the reduction of our carbon foot prints and in the long run it will benefit our world. 



However, a lot of countries being hit by the Financial crisis are going back on their words and delaying the up-gradation of their respective industries/machiney as, it not only costs money but also cuts on employment which right now is crucial to maintain. 

A major example of which is Germany which uses brown coal, the most polluting form of coal, which still relies on it for one-fifth of its energy supply. The argument revolves around it being their important resource to why turn to expensive sources that is especially applicable in this time.

Many say that the promises that the Green world promises are unrealistic and consistent with the economic fundamentals of todays economic forms. On the other hand there are silver lines in China, Korea and other such countries that are adapting what the Green Policies have to offer to their needs and requirements. 

But in a world heading for a financial slowdown policy-makers must keep their focus on the envioronment which will be of greater importance in the long run and the survival of our species, (that very intelligently seems to be destroying the world they live in), furthermore this can not and should not take a back seat and therefore despite the gloomy financial atmosphere we must fight to keep our priorities in place.