Carbon Trading to the Rescue

  Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, maintaining and funding wildlife conservation areas have taken a major hit in many countries. One such country is Africa. In a Mongabay news article called Tourism has crashed: Are carbon credits the future for funding conservation in Africa? by Mantoe Phakathi, she mentions that with the lack of tourism and limited philanthropy, the trading of carbon credits has become an alternative for financially maintaining wildlife conservations in Africa. On top of that, she mentions how companies with carbon credits end up reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) into the air. Yet the author also points out assertions from critics that the carbon trading market is expensive and carbon credit prices are too low to incentivize people. Despite these assertions, carbon trading is an effective tool for funding wildlife conservation along with reducing greenhouse emissions since it takes trade-tested betterment and the market as a discovery process into account.

First, by taking trade-tested betterment into account, carbon trading becomes an effective tool for funding wildlife conservation along with reducing greenhouse gases. Deirdre McCloskey, a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Economics and of History, and Professor Emerita of English and of Communication, came up with the phrase “trade-tested betterment” in reference to the poor becoming better off by the bourgeoisie introducing products at high prices into the market before the poor experience these benefits through higher wages, better quality of living, etc. In terms of wildlife conservation and greenhouse emissions, the act of trading carbon credits within the market at possibly high prices allows the sellers to put such proceeds towards funding conservations or provide higher wages that workers can then donate to such conservations. Also, companies with these credits end up limiting the amounts of carbon dioxide they emit into the air, which further limits the amount of greenhouse gases that negatively impact one’s health and the climate. As such, individuals that do or do not participate in this voluntary, pair-wise social interaction still become better off and find incentive in such an exchange. Therefore, taking this display of trade-tested betterment into account makes carbon trading an effective tool for funding wildlife conservation along with reducing greenhouse gases.

Likewise, carbon trading is an effective tool at funding wildlife conservation as well as reducing greenhouse emissions since it acknowledges the market as a discovery process, unlike the assertions made against it. For instance, by the end of 2016, governments / companies from all over the world with excess credits and other companies demanding such credits within the carbon trade market came together to voluntarily exchange carbon credits. The result was $300 million of credits had been sold on voluntary markets; Africa accounted for just $20 million of this global total, as Phakathi states. This example shows that the economic exchange of carbon credits between these buyers and sellers helps unearth discoveries of benefits. In this case, the benefits being the millions of dollars that can be put towards financially supporting the maintenance of wildlife conservations and decreased levels of carbon dioxide that companies emit into the air, which tends to negatively impacts one’s health and the climate. Thus, by considering the fact that the market is a discovery process, carbon trading becomes an effective tool for funding wildlife conservation and reducing greenhouse gases.

Altogether, carbon trading acknowledges trade-tested betterment and the market as a discovery process, which makes it an effective tool for funding wildlife conservation and reducing greenhouse emissions. First, due to trade-tested betterment, governments and companies involved in the carbon trade may buy or sell carbon credits at possibly high prices. But those prices would allow governments / companies selling the carbon credits to put the proceeds towards wildlife conservations themselves or pass on the benefits of their proceeds to the workers through higher wages, better quality of living, etc. that they can then put towards such endeavors as wildlife conservations. At the same time, companies that possess the carbon credits provide the added benefit of decreasing greenhouse emissions by not producing as much carbon dioxide into the air, which lessen the risks to one’s health and the climate as a whole. Likewise, accounting for the market as a discovery process allows participants to discover the benefits of such transactions as generating millions of dollars in revenue that can go towards funding wildlife conservation and decreasing carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, carbon trading opens the door to future possibilities that can better sustain biodiversity and the environment for years to come.

Source
https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/tourism-has-crashed-are-carbon-credits-the-future-for-funding-conservation-in-africa/