Matt Cover
CNSNews.com
6/8/2011
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it has awarded $17.4 million for pilot projects that will begin exploring how to establish a market for greenhouse gas (GHG) credits, a key component of a cap and trade system, to help reduce carbon and other emissions that apparently contribute to global warming.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the projects were the “foundational work” for establishing an American carbon market.
“This is really sort of foundational work that’s being done,” Vilsack told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday.
The $17.4 million in funding is part of the Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) program, which is supposed to foster innovation in environmental conservation technology and business. In this case, the administration has received special funding to provide CIG grants for projects that demonstrate methods for establishing a GHG-offset markets in agriculture.
Greenhouse gas offsets, often called carbon credits, are a key component of a cap and trade system – the ‘trade’ part of the system in fact. Under cap and trade, businesses with GHG offsets can sell them to other businesses that need the offsets to stay under the emissions cap – the legal limit on carbon-dioxide and other GHG emissions…
The article continues at CNSNews.com
H/T Protein Wisdom
