Under international agreements developed countries have agreed to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they put into the air. Many of them cannot do it through direct reduction, so what they can do is sponsor developing countries to develop industries that produce less carbon dioxide. The developed country then uses the reduced amount of carbon dioxide produced as a credit for themselves.

In other words, there is less carbon produced globally due to the developed countries’ efforts in cutting back in the developing country so they take the credit and apply that to their account.
Steve Maximay, managing director, Plantpro Associates Ltd, along with Dr Devon Gardner, a Jamaican, lecturing in the Bahamas, recently registered a company in The Bahamas to work across the Caribbean with Governments and corporations to monitor and trade in carbon credits as part of the global response to climate change.

They have both been involved in adaptation and mitigation, albeit from different perspectives. They met formally in Lisbon during the European Development Days, and recognising their complementary skills, were further inspired by the Burkina Faso Climate Change seminar (at which both presented papers) to ensure that the Caribbean becomes a major player in the Global milieu.   
Dr Gardner has developed alternative energy projects regionally and can generate the types of models needed to initiate carbon markets within Caricom. Maximay has the private sector and business development background as well as a level of prominence regionally in biotechnology, training and intellectual property. They are confident they can use all those skills and capabilities to the benefit of the Caricom region and play a small part in overall adaptation/mitigation.

Proposed Services
 
Carbon offsetting, carbon trading, training and capacity building:           
• Carbon offsetting
• ‘Carbon footprint’ determination
• Carbon dioxide and other Greenhouse Gases (GHG), audit
• Energy-use audit
• Carbon dioxide, and other GHG, emission-reduction strategies
• Carbon dioxide, and other GHG, offset strategies         
• Identification of local, regional and global projects for linking with carbon neutral businesses or events
•Conceptualisation of carbon dioxide and other GHG reduction projects
• Development of low carbon and carbon-neutral operation models
Carbon trading
• Identification of projects that may qualify (under CDM and other emission trading schemes) for carbon credit sales
• Conceptualisation of projects that may qualify for carbon credit sales                 Determination of carbon credits, due to reduced emissions or carbon sequestration, for project activities, viz Renewable Energy Technology (RET) use, Energy Conservation and Efficiency (ECE) programmes, and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) activities
• Brokerage of carbon credit sales on the international market
• General advisory services on RET, ECE and CCS policies
• General advisory services on international Emission Trading Schemes (ETS)
• Training and Capacity Building
• Introductory Energy Conservation and Efficiency (ECE) programmes
• Capacity building towards sustainable energy management practices
• Short courses on Professional Practice for Sustainable Development (PP4SD) in the private and public sectors                

Maximay and Gardner have already approached FIFA to offer our services to ‘green’ the under-17 women’s world cup to be held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2010, as well as the regional airline to help them strengthen their ‘carbon neutral’ portal.    The Company will also offer complementary services to Science-Based Initiatives as part of “Green Globe 21 inspired” work in the tourism sector.