Greenhouse gas emission offsets: A global warming insurance policy

While scientists work to define the nature and extent of potential climate change, policy makers debate the appropriateness of different responses. One voluntary initiative has pursued a possible response: greenhouse gas offsets. This article describes a program undertaken by The AES Corporation to attempt to offset CO2 emissions from cogeneration facilities run by the corporation. Independent investigations indicated that an extensive reforestation program might be a practical way to create sinks for CO2. This article describes some of the practical concerns of this project. It also describes efforts made to locate areas to carry out a reforestation program, groups worked with, and effort devoted to finding ways to quantify the success of any effort undertaken