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Voluntary Carbon Offsetting Tops 100 Million Tonnes as Market Goes “Clean and Green”

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Voluntary demand for carbon offsetting grew 4% in 2012, when buyers committed more than $523 million to offset 101 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Private sector buyers flocked to offsets earned by planting trees, saving tropical forests, or distributing clean cookstoves in the developing world, according to this year’s State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report, released by Forest Trends’ Ecosystem Marketplace this week in Barcelona, Spain.

Whether in North America or Europe, these findings show that many companies remain willing to act ahead of governments when it comes to putting a meaningful price on carbon, says Michael Jenkins, president of Ecosystem Marketplace’s parent organization, Forest Trends.