Yep, as expected, they begin to care once it hits their bottom line.
2. Note the CFTC and "banks" would be involved in trading of carbon credits so that's another interest they have in a solution.
I have to admit that I'm skeptical of carbon credits because they will be gamed by Enron-style traders and diverted towards things that look like they work, and away from things that really work.
For instance, some people claim you can absorb CO2 by grinding up Olvine rock and spreading it at the beach. Maybe it works. It's hard to measure because it happens over a wide area.
If you capture carbon from a fossil fuel power plant or biofuel facility or direct carbon capture you pump CO2 into a well and can measure it going in the same way people measured methane going out. That's for real, rock crushing less so, but if rock crushing appears to be cheaper Wall Street will crush rocks while the Earth burns.
but! a system with these two assumptions built into it can still reach its goals. i don't know much about carbon credit proposals or working systems - i'm actually a fan of carbon tax and carbon dividend - but i know one such instance works in the EU and perhaps a different one can be designed to reduce carbon emissions despite being abused.
A decade ago, you could buy these credits to offset your own carbon footprint with the promise that they would be used to support reforestation efforts across the globe. Years later I found out through a friend who would help charities that received those credits, that they would definitely plant trees, but the number advertised on the credits and the actual trees planted were different. Also, no one would take care of the trees for long and only few would survive.
Many customers, with the most basic of reminders, will choose to skip the bag, or bring their own.
The issue is that their bottom line was not impacted early enough.