Does there have to be a "cap" on CO2 emissions (for a particular business) before there can be Carbon Credits?

Question

is that the only way for carbon credits to start?

does there have to be a cap, if so, how is that worked out?

or can any business just say "we've reduced our emissions, give us a credit to sell" (cos that sounds really bad, like we're not trying to actually reduce CO2, but just keep it at the same level)

and is there other ways to get/produce carbon credits?

is this scheme mandatory?

if not, why not?

Answer 1

carbon credits

carbon credits are issued for taking CO2 out of the atmosphere or by reducing emissions. imagine there is a large river, and you are a farmer. if you need more water you can pay someone up stream to use less water so that you will have enough. its basicly the same thing with carbon credits.

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"does there have to be a "cap" on CO2 emissions (for a particular business) before there can be Carbon Credits?"

the short answer is no.

there are 2 main ways to reduce CO2 emissions. one is a tax the other is a cap and trade system.

in a carbon tax system. if you emit CO2 you need to may some amount of money to the government as a tax. if you don't want to pay this tax you can buy Carbon Credits to make your emissions zero.

the other system is a cap and trade system there is no tax but instead everyone has to buy carbon credits for the CO2 you release, the cap is the amount of carbon credits that are issued by the goverment and any more can be made by removing co2 from the atmosphere.

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or can any business just say "we've reduced our emissions, give us a credit to sell"

the cap (how much CO2 the country can emit) probably will be worked out by scientists.

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or can any business just say "we've reduced our emissions, give us a credit to sell" (cos that sounds really bad, like we're not trying to actually reduce CO2, but just keep it at the same level)

im not sure what you mean but companys can generate credits in some systems for reducing there emissions. for example a goverment may give some credits to its steel indsustry and any they dont use they can sell.

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and is there other ways to get/produce carbon credits?

planting forrest and fenceing it off

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is this scheme mandatory?

it will ether be mandatory or it wont work at all.

Answer 2

Lets take this one step at a time.  You see if you analyzed your question you would in fact see how utterly absurd it is, not because of your asking, but for what is hidden in plain view within the question.  

The word cap means to level off or put in place restrictive measures.  This is referring to......CO2 or Carbon Dioxide.  Now in return for this cap one or many can purchase Carbon credits so  they can reduce their carbon foot print.  It is in fact the emissions of CO2 that needs to be capped,  so if a corporation has come up short of this quota they can sell their extra credits to a corporation that was over the limit.  

Sounds great, right, the only this is it is a complete lie that CO2 is causing global warming.  The majority of harm full chemicals and gasses emitted from factories and manufacturing plants is not CO2.  Carbon Monoxide, sulfer, ironbitrates, etc, but CO2 is the chemical that the plant life needs to exist on this planet, and hey, isn't that the gas we emit, or exhale (for those who are still individuals and not human resources).  If CO2 is the major problem as  Al Gore has stated, then maybe,  we should just get rid of a bunch of people, sounds eaisier than trying to regulate all these corporations.  

The whole scheme is to regulate, and control, and penalize, and victimize, and institutionalize, and eventually to depopulate.  You hit the nail right on the head, when you asked is this scheme mandatory, of course it is.

Answer 3

If you are going to cap emissions in America, you have to cap them all over the world (bad idea-- bad for economy and it would mean worldwide government control) because businesses in America will move to other countries to get away from capping and the control. And that will mean a collapse in the American economy.

Not a good idea.

I will answer your question in a simplified manner:

The government sets a limit of how much carbon that all the businesses can emit. And then they assign a certain amount of CO2 to a credit, and in the end there is a total of (for the sake of argument) 1000 credits-- which equals all the carbon emissions by businesses. Then they dole out almost all 1000 credits to the businesses in an equal, depending on size of the business, amount (for a price). Say company A gets 12 credits and company B gets 28 credits. If company A emits all of the carbon that their 12 credits allows them too, then they can buy more credits from the government or from company B, if company B wants to sell. Then over time, the government lowers the amount of carbon that can be emitted, and the credits become more valuable.

So with this, there must be some government( okay a lot) of regulation. This will mean a larger more powerful government--if not socialist then very close-- and a larger financial toll on all businesses. But unless the rest of the world implements this carbon credit plan, the companies in the U.S. will move to other countries where there is no carbon credit program, taking their money with them.