A new investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit, and SourceMaterial revealed that more than 90% of the rainforest carbon offsets verified by leading carbon standard Verra did not reduce deforestation. Instead, the investigation found that carbon offsets at best overestimate the carbon sequestered, and at worst have negative impacts on climate change.
What are voluntary carbon offsets?
Organisations can buy carbon offsets (also known as credits) through the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM). The idea is that any carbon emitted by the company can be neutralised by the purchase of the equivalent amount of carbon credits, some of which are carbon removal projects, and some of which provide other sustainability benefits such as clean drinking water, etc. However, for those offsets that sequester carbon, the removals are not calculated over the same timeframe as the emissions. For example, a 1-hour flight offset by rainforest credits would be eventually neutralised by offsets that are calculated over the lifetime of the trees planted – 25 to 100 years. The purchaser usually understands that their flight emissions are immediately neutralised, but the years of difference in timeframes create what we call ‘carbon debt’ – a debt we don’t have time to repay according to the latest climate science.
Another problem with this offsetting system is that carbon credits purchased through the VCM are not permanent removals, since any carbon sequestered by trees and other nature-based projects is eventually released back into the atmosphere. And a further problem is securing the projects – for example, forests can be subject to wildfires.
Offsets are thus not part of a programme of global emissions reductions designed to avoid catastrophic global heating.
Corporate polluters can use carbon offsets as an excuse to continue emitting carbon and contributing to the climate crisis. However, since carbon offsetting began, there has been a net gain in carbon emissions, indicating that offsetting is not working. Numerous companies, such as Disney and energy giant Shell, have made purchasing carbon offsets integral to their target of meeting so-called ‘net-zero’ by 2050. The danger here is that this non-scientific definition of net-zero lulls the world into believing that limiting global heating to 1.5C is much easier than science demonstrates.
Climate justice is a central tenet of global science-based net-zero. However, some offset programmes result in injustice, due to direct attacks on indigenous communities. With many offset projects located in the global south, indigenous peoples’ land rights are continually violated in order that companies in the global north can purchase credits and make ‘carbon neutral’ or false net-zero claims. Examples include the indigenous Kichwa community of Puerto Franco who took the Peruvian government and the Azul National Park to court for implementing a carbon trading scheme on their land without their permission, effectively evicting the people from their own land – the very people who have acted as forest stewards for hundreds of years.
What can your organisation do instead?
At Green Element, we outline multiple steps you can take as an organisation to reduce your carbon emissions. We recommend investing in decarbonising your operations and setting science-based greenhouse gas emissions net-zero targets across your value chain. This will future-proof your business by addressing climate risk, aligning your organisation with the Paris Agreement, and showing your customers the carbon reductions you are implementing now.
The Science Based Targets initiative stated in their Net Zero Standard statement that ‘companies will require deep decarbonisation of at least 90% to reach net-zero under the Standard.’ This means that your residual emissions, a maximum of just 10% of your baseline emissions, can be neutralised by permanent physical carbon removals that are additional and take place by your net-zero target date, and every year hence.
If you have questions regarding carbon offsetting, or are looking for advice on how to start or accelerate your sustainability journey, please get in touch at info@greenelement.co.uk.
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