What distinguishes ViaCAP from Cap and Trade at the national level?
ViaCAP is a voluntary market where a community or organization can raise funds through the sale of emission reductions or “carbon change” donations that support Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction projects within that community or organization. Cap and Trade at the national level will put a regulatory cap on GHG emissions. ViaCAP places no such regulatory cap or even assessment requirement on any entity. Rather, the program focuses on reduction opportunities, which is the offset side of Cap and Trade. This brings us to the main difference: Cap and Trade will create a huge demand for offsets. However, in order to create an offset, the costs can be excessive. ViaCAP, by utilizing local resources such as universities and partnerships, will dramatically decrease the costs of bringing carbon financing to a GHG reduction project.
