Global carbon trading on voluntary markets more than doubled from 2007 to 2008, reaching $708 million. The market will grow again in 2009 as individuals and businesses continue to work to procure carbon offsets, new entry points are opening up and redefining the consumer's role in a market.

Consumer involvement in carbon markets is growing due to new accessible offset programs, exchanges and web-based trading mechanisms. But the rapidly increasing number of services for procuring carbon offsets can make it a challenge to find certificates or documentation that validates the greenhouse-gas reductions.

Some of the main features of the recently proposed American Clean Energy and Security Act are the required 17-percent reduction (from 2005 levels) in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020 and 83-percent by 2050. The bill would also initially provide carbon permits to emissions-intensive industries and utilities, and later years would transition to permit auctions.

Unlike the European Union Emissions Trading System, the current U.S. carbon market is voluntary, composed of carbon offset projects that follow standards, like the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Joint Initiative (JI) standards or the Voluntary Gold Standard (GS VER), and other projects or services that remain uncertified. Companies and services are sprouting up to assist not just corporations, but also individuals.

Households are moving alongside industries towards further energy efficiency, and with even Google experiencing difficulty offsetting their emissions, tackling carbon issues may appear challenging. Carbon credit exchanges have primarily been business-oriented, but a new website is promising to not only better connect consumers with the carbon marketplace, but also to provide reduction incentives.

My Emissions Exchange requires members to calculate their carbon footprint from all sources and submit utility bills for the past year. The voluntary market was a place for individuals and corporations to invest and commit to sustainability, but starting June 15th site members will be able to benefit fiscally, as well as socially.

For each carbon ton reduced, about 3 percent of the average American household energy bill, MyEex members sell carbon credits to bidding companies. Paul Herrgesell, project manager at My Emissions Exchange, has said that carbon credits can be sold between $10 and $25-- all of which is returned to the user.

Membership is free, and companies will then bid to purchase credits from MyEex., which a competitor to services Terrapass or CarbonFund.org.

According to an article in the Times of London published last month, MyEex is working with Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance. Lloyd's is experienced with carbon offsets, as just last month they certified Yacht Carbon Offset's management system.

Exchanges, like the Chicago Carbon Exchange (CCX), doubled in size from 2007 to 2008 to $708 million, according to a recently released report from New Carbon Finance. The CCX is a legally-bound voluntary market that provides verification guidelines, and overtook over-the-counter (non-formal) markets last year.

Last month, Merrill Lynch launched the Green and Gold initiative service, in partnership with ICF International, which will match up businesses and emission-reduction projects that have met the rigorous standards of organizations like the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA). More recently, the Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM) has launched their Global Environmental (GEM) platform which will allow customers to manage their carbon portfolios, and will initially support credits fostered by the Kyoto Protocol: Certified Emissions Reductions (CER) and Assigned Amount Units (AAU).

CERs are credits granted through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), in return for emissions reductions from renewable technology projects in countries under the Kyoto Protocol.

Tony Nunes, managing director of strategy and product development for BNYM's global corporate trust business, provided some insight into what lay behind the platform's inception. Neutrality was one of the primary goals of the platform, "The neutral architecture allows the market to assign value based on the fundamental qualities of a credit rather than the infrastructure supporting the individual credit type," said Nunes. BNYM began its foray into the carbon market in 2006 when the organization began their custody and registry for Voluntary Carbon Credits (VCS v1 credits). The GEM platform will expand to encompass voluntary standards in the near future

Marlo Raynolds, executive director of Alberta-based Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development, said that the personal carbon credit market will achieve longevity through "transparent and standardized system[s] of verification." It is in this same vein that those pursuing offsets are forced to rigorously research the projects they invest in or rely on proven benchmarks, like the CDM Gold Standard and brought about by organizations like the Climate Group or World Economic Forum.

Do these carbon credits serve all offset projects? Dan Tefft, CEO of Treebanking, Inc., a company that declares itself as "dedicated to healing the planet's ecosystems," said the original carbon offset efforts didn't include combating deforestation. "They didn't understand the science of how trees in forests absorb CO2—forestry and agricultural carbon sequestration was originally [ignored]."

Deforestation was taken into account later through the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Land Degradation (REDD), which introduced a system for generating carbon credits by reducing emissions that are released into the atmosphere through deforestation prevention. "Scientists are saying that 20% of greenhouse-gases that are emitted are the direct result of deforestation— especially tropical," Tefft added.

The credit certification that Treebanking works primarily with is the Climate, Community and Biodiversity standards.. Tefft is positive about the market, but emphasizes that any system implemented requires "working with the market and with a significant amount of oversight, otherwise the entire system could be bled dry and money will not go to the projects that need it."

With available certifications and standards, corporations and individuals can protect themselves and their investments from potential issues of fraud. With services like My Emissions Exchange encouraging consumers to further involve themselves in carbon markets and financial services building upon existing standards, certification and regulation development will undoubtedly be spurred— potentially under the watchful eye of cap-and-trade systems.

Clean energy projects, such as those recognized by the CDM, are receiving the legal mechanisms they require outside existing infrastructures, like the Kyoto Protocol through service providers like Merrill Lynch or BNYM. The entrance of large financial players into the market may smooth the road ahead for credit trading, which could be welcomed in a market that has recently seen carbon markets rise in Canada and fall in Australia.