Carbon offsets and credits

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/carbon-offsets-and-credits

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the originating mechanisms?Early frameworks included the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol
2. What is the related concepts?Carbon pricing, carbon taxes, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAM)
3. What is a carbon offset?A carbon offset is a special point you can earn by helping the planet. It uses carbon credits that count one ton of CO2 or its equivalent that has been avoided or removed from the air.
4. How do carbon credits help clean the air?Carbon credits are tradable tools that give money to projects like wind farms, energy‑saving buildings, or planting trees. The money makes these projects possible and reduces the amount of greenhouse gases in the air.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory: A systematic accounting of an entity's greenhouse gas emissions and removals.
Methodology: A detailed set of rules and procedures for quantifying emission reductions from a specific project type.
Retirement of Credits: The process of permanently removing a carbon credit from circulation to claim an offset.
Fungibility: The ability of a commodity or asset to be interchanged with other individual goods of the same type.