Carbon Offsets Get Oversight

The voluntary carbon-offset market, soon projected to be worth billions of dollars by 2010, has been plagued by doubters who see offsets as a means to reduce the customer’s guilt, not carbon emissions. New developments in the field, however, including a Green-e standard and labeling program for offsets and potential oversight from the Federal Trade Commission, may bring more discipline and trust to the market.

The voluntary market for renewable energy certificates (RECs), which are similar to carbon offsets but deal instead with offsetting the use of conventional electricity (see