Last month we initiated a short survey of community members to gather information to support an operational planning exercise. As GHGMI sits at the crossroads of online education and climate change policy, the past few months have been particulary fast-moving. Society is, at once, waking to the potential for e-learning to transform educational delivery and [...]

Last month, carbon market practitioners and observers gathered in San Francisco for the annual Navigating the American Carbon World (NACW) conference. NACW began in California over a decade ago as a regional meet-up for the nascent community of practice working on voluntary carbon management initiatives. Now, in step with California’s climate leadership and the start [...]

The Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (GHGMI) is actively seeking a Program Assistant with primary responsibility for day-to-day operation of its Education Program.  The ideal candidate will be technologically savvy, possess excellent personal skills, be very comfortable with taking initiative without close supervision, and be committed to making a difference on the issue of climate change. [...]

There is a small but growing literature that considers the challenge of climate change through the ethicist’s lens. So-called “climate ethics” addresses the ethical imperative for action on climate change. (See this short interview for a good introduction to the flavor of the discourse.) This discussion is important, but while the broad issue of climate [...]

Electrons flowing down a wire. How many times have you heard this description in discussions on how electric power grids functions? Our greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting framework for indirect emissions from purchased electricity (i.e., Scope 2) is built around this mental model — the idea that electrons in the electric grid are analogous to water [...]

One of the more frustrating issues I deal with as an educator is the focus by many governments, NGOs, foundations, and much of the scientific community on “climate literacy” as a strategy for shifting the climate change policy debate. Climate literacy is the label given by organizations, such as the U.S. National Science Foundation, to [...]

Much of the world right now appears largely unconcerned with climate change. And, this state of affairs is just what social psychology tells us we should expect. People will avoid thinking about and accepting as real problems like climate change that feel remote and have complex long-term causes and solutions. Combine the enormous distractions of [...]

Continuing on the theme of widely held fundamental misconceptions in the carbon management community (see previous blog posts here and here), today I am going to write on a matter of terminology I find particularly irksome: the use of the term “counterfactual” in additionality discussions. Probably one of the most frequently cited assertions relating to [...]

GHGMI is working with a group of expert implementing organizations to develop low emission development capacity across 11 countries in south and southeast Asia. To learn more about this USAID-funded project see their newly launched website: http://lowemissionsasia.org/

I am about to commit an act of minor heresy by telling you that something everyone repeats as gospel is flat bunk. The qualities of a good emission offset project are one of the most common refrains you hear in the carbon offsets community. You can probably repeat most of them by memory: real, additional, [...]