Developing Carbon Offset Strategy

Give credit to the Action Climate Task force

What is a Carbon Offset?
A carbon offset is a financial instrument aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The basic
idea of carbon offsets is to figure out your personal or business GHG emissions, "carbon footprint”
and balance GHG emissions with GHG reductions. Purchasing offsets is a convenient mechanism
to balance your carbon footprint.
A “carbon offset” is an emission reduction credit, from another organization’s project, that results
in less greenhouse gases in the atmosphere than would otherwise occur. Carbon offsets
are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) and may represent six primary
categories of greenhouse gases. By funding these reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, you
balance, or offset, your own impact by an equivalent amount and your purchase funds additional
GHG reductions projects.

Our recommendations acknowledge the lack of certainty regarding a federal
climate policy and ambiguity this creates for business and industry. Rather than
predict the outcomes and requirements of pending climate policy, we focus on
strategies that prepare Albuquerque’s business and industry sector for nationally
regulated greenhouse gases, regardless of specific legislative outcomes.
We offer a suite of strategies designed to help business and industry understand,
identify and act upon opportunities inherent in greenhouse gas reductions.
These opportunities may include cost reductions through energy efficiency
measures, carbon offset partnerships with private, non-profit or government
entities or positive recognition of voluntary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
Our strategies are designed to work within current voluntary state and regional
initiatives as well as pending national climate policy. For example, we address
actions that support participation in the Western Climate Initiative’s (WCI’s)
regional carbon cap-and-trade program, but we also recommend preliminary
actions that help business and industry prepare for and even thrive in a carbonconstrained

Develop a carbon offset strategy that is based on best practices and incorporates actions that are likely to be consistent with national climate.

Investigate funding sources for carbon offset projects. City staff should
advocate and obtain Western Climate Initiative offset credits, develop voluntary
programs to generate income for local offset projects and encourage
the creation of a local carbon offset company. The City should also
develop a tiered incentive purchasing program for employees to purchase
travel offsets from companies based in the City or state.
• Actively participate in Western Climate Initiative program and policy
development by identifying City staff that will serve on the WCI steering
committee. In order to meet this objective, the City must complete its
greenhouse gas inventory and establish an emissions baseline as a prerequisite
to strategic participation and policy creation.
• Identify potential ecosystem assets such as wetlands or forests that may
qualify as carbon sinks for a carbon offset program. In order to accomplish
this, the City must inventory its open spaces to identify potential
eco-assets, establish an ongoing monitoring program and develop and
maintain a database of potential offset projects.
• Prepare business and industry for a carbon offset market by hosting a
conference that educates business and industry about the opportunities
and risks of the WCI carbon cap-and-trade program and pending federal
climate legislation prior to their implementation.
• Design large business programs in order to impact emissions reductions
on a larger scale. These City-managed carbon offset programs focus on
large businesses, their employees and their vehicle fleets. Some examples
include a “junker” car program whereby the City purchases junker cars
as an offset strategy, a carpooling program or promoting flex-time for
employees.