Sustainability of Charlotte

[kermit]

Seems like there is a need for a thread on the environmental aspects of urban growth in Charlotte.

I’ll start by tossing out a half-assed idea: The WSJ writes today about a potential shortage of carbon credits which are increasingly in demand by industry who purchase the credits to meet climate goals when they are unable to meaningfully reduce outputs. The WSJ story implies that more consumers expect to see efforts like this when making consumption choices.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/carbon-credit-surplus-could-soon-turn-to-shortage-11663968204. (Probably paywalled)

The credits are typically generated by forest preservation or alternative energy production (e.g. activities which either keep carbon sequestered (trees), or prevent future carbon release (alternative energy). 

Since urbanites produce much less carbon than suburbanites, I began to wonder, could Charlotte participate in the carbon credit marketplace by selling credits against development projects that increase density? Infill multi-family is the obvious first option, with more credits issued for development built without parking. Transit, bike and sidewalk expansions (Belk removal!) are other ways the city could prevent future carbon release. 

I know there are plenty of critics of this marketplace, and it could easily be argued that urban growth is going to just encourage more suburbanization. But, I would bet that the city could gain some valuable publicity from a trail blazing effort like this, exert some marginal influence on future development decisions and gain an undetermined amount of cash from selling the credits. 

Just thinking out loud here….

Edited September 24, 2022 by kermit