Kick the Habit: A UN Guide to Climate Neutrality

The Emissions Trading Scheme For countries that are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol and with legally bind- ing emission targets, a tool to help them is the Emissions Trading Scheme . This is a so-called cap-and-trade scheme, which means countries are al- lowed a certain amount of emissions which should decrease over time to achieve overall emission reduction. In the Kyoto scheme each allowance is called an Assigned Amount Unit (AAU), equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide. These allowances are tradable among countries. At the end of a set period each country must hold the same amount of AAUs as it has emitted tonnes of greenhouse gases. In case the country emitted more, they can add to the AAUs offsets that have been created under the Kyoto Protocol mecha- nisms in order to balance the additional emissions. This is where the CERs, ERUs and Removal Units from Carbon sinks (RMUs), etc. play their role.

Accounting units

Each one equals one tonne of CO 2

equivalent

Emission allowance allocated to a country under the Kyoto Protocol

A A U

Assigned Amount Unit

Emission reduction expected from a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project

C E R

Certified Emission Reduction

Emission reduction from land use, land-use change and forestry activities resulting from a CDM or a Joint Implementation (JI) project

R M U

Removal Unit

E R U

Emission Reduction Unit

Emission reduction from a JI project

V E R Emission reduction from a voluntary project not bound to any legal framework or standard ( VER also means "Verified Emission Reduction", an acceptable unit for Chicago Climate Exchange contracts, but not Kyoto ) Voluntary Emission Reduction

THE CYCLE – OFFSET KICK THE HABIT

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