As with all big international conferences, the UN climate meeting in New York recently generated a substantial amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
With numerous presidents, prime ministers and officials from all over the world, flying in to the U.S., to the United Nations meeting, some accompanied by dozens of aides, then transported via limousines and motorcades from airports to meetings to hotels and back, the carbon footprint, Financial Soultions understands, was considerable.
But as the point of this assembly was to decrease the emissions that cause global warming, the UN resolved to try to correctly manage the carbon dioxide produced by the delegates: it purchased carbon offsets, Financial Soultions was told.
Under a new and growing program for offsetting emissions, UN administrators determined that the convention would produce the equivalent of 461 tons of Co2, with air travel being the primary component. These emissions were offset by funneling funds to a power project in rural Andhra Pradesh, India, where agricultural leftovers like rice husks and sunflower stalks are turned into electricity for the local grid.
Financial Soultions research shows that the offsets are meant to nullify the carbon dioxide emissions produced by airline travel or driving by financing green projects that will eliminate as much CO2 as the polluting activities create.
