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Carbon Offset Insights

Why Are Carbon Offsets So Contentious?  In Part Because They're Simply Hard to Get Right. Before Buying Offsets, It's Worth 1-2 Hours of Your Time to Understand Them. 

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What You'll Learn In This (Short!) Course

The Basic History of Carbon Offsets

The first carbon offset was in 1989. Carbon Offsets Round 1 went through ~2015, and Carbon Offsets Round 2 is now underway

Why Offsets Are Legitimately Hard!

A commodity that can't be seen, observed, or otherwise directly measured, creates real complications for a successful market. 

Defining and Implementing Good Offsets

Additionality, permanence, and leakage are the three key criteria associated with the climate change performance of offsets

Is Carbon Offset Scoring the Future?

Several carbon offset "scorers" have raised millions of dollars and entered the market. Will they make a difference?

What Does the Literature Suggest Re Offsets to Date?

There is a substantial literature when it comes to evaluating the performance of carbon offsets.  We'll explore it. 

Are There Alternatives to Offsets to Consider?

Are "Carbon Contribution Claims" a legitimate alternative to offsets?  Should you consider going down that path?

Students Love This Course!

It's amazing how hard it is to find good resources and thinking on carbon offsets. None of my typical channels surface things like this course!

Max Scher
Salesforce



Previously part of the Climatographers' Udemy course platform, this course enrolled more than 1,000 students, had an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars, and was a popular part of Udemy for Business program.
The course was amazing.  The content was very nicely presented and was easy to understand. 

Aman Kumar Upadhyay
Udemy Student

Meet the instructor

Mark Trexler

Mark Trexler has more than 30 years of climate change experience and has advised clients around the world on climate change risk and risk management. Mark joined the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC, in 1988, has served as a lead author and editor for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and most recently was Director of Climate Risk for the global risk management firm of Det Norske Veritas based in Oslo.

He is widely published on climate change topics, particularly those relating to carbon offsets, societal risk, and business risk management. Mark has lived around the world and speaks five languages, and holds advanced degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.

Mark's work on climate change knowledge management is inspired by Carla O'Dell's quote: "If only we knew what we know." The information to solve climate change exists, but it rarely gets to the right person at the right time. The Climatographers want to help change that. We welcome your feedback and ideas, including on courses like this one.
Patrick Jones - Course author

Course Lessons