« Why Offsets? :: Policy Benefits of Offsets
OQI believes that offsets have a vital role to play in combating global climate change and should be included in state, regional, and federal climate legislation. Offsets have many significant policy benefits. For example:
- Offsets can stimulate and realize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction opportunities in sectors that are not covered by, or are not appropriate for, an emissions cap. Significant emission reduction opportunities exist in these non-covered sectors, and robust and well-designed offset policies can capture these at a lower cost than through cap-and-trade or traditional command-and-control regulation.
- Offsets can stimulate emission reduction activities and early action in the beginning years of a GHG reduction regime, driving critical infrastructural and behavioral changes.
- Offsets prompt the market to seek out and take advantage of the lowest cost reduction opportunities first, resulting in the most economically efficient distribution of reduction efforts and mitigation funding. This reduces the overall costs of the program, which should translate to a higher level of political support.
- Offset funding provides a significant driver of new, innovative technologies that will help the transition to a low-carbon economy, reduce reliance on fossil fuels and assist in meeting emission reduction targets.
- Offsets can promote technology transfer between the developed and developing worlds. These technologies not only provide emission reductions, but also provide important social and economic co-benefits.
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The work of the Offset Quality Initiative is generously supported by the Energy Foundation.
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