Going carbon neutral:
A significant increase in the carbon emissions over the last two decades has led to governments and organisations around the world setting targets to reduce their emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement. But why should only governments and organisations reduce their carbon emissions? It is high time to consider the carbon footprint we have as individuals and make changes to reduce it.
There are various ways to reduce your carbon footprint including recycling, cutting out the use of plastics, minimizing the amount of food waste, utilising energy-efficient appliances, and using public transport. But at the end of the day, there is always going to be some level of the carbon footprint associated with our activities so how do we reach net zero as individuals?
One obvious solution is to plant more trees to allow for more absorption of carbon dioxide. A prime example of this is the Kingdom of Bhutan which became the first carbon negative country in the world when volunteer citizens set a world record of planting approximately 50,000 trees within one hour resulting in over 70% of the country being covered in trees. But what about individuals in other countries around the world? The answer is carbon offsets.
However, there is a major issue with buying carbon offsets - individuals cannot offset effectively as there is no ownership of the credits and there is no clear indication as to where the money is going.
Moreover, individuals require only a small amount of carbon offsets which the carbon markets do not allow due to the high transaction costs.
In a world with highly advanced technological capabilities, the answer is simple; provide provisions for individuals to buy and sell carbon credits on the blockchain in the form of NFTs to provide ownership to the communities through transparency and security.
This provides an opportunity for everyone to do their parts for the planet in a race to achieve a carbon neutral economy.
- Sarthak Manocha
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