<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/18/revealed-forest-carbon-offsets-biggest-provider-worthless-verra-aoe>
"The forest carbon offsets approved by the world’s leading certifier and used
by Disney, Shell, Gucci and other big corporations are largely worthless and
could make global heating worse, according to a new investigation.
The research into Verra, the world’s leading carbon standard for the rapidly
growing $2bn (£1.6bn) voluntary offsets market, has found that, based on
analysis of a significant percentage of the projects, more than 90% of their
rainforest offset credits – among the most commonly used by companies – are
likely to be “phantom credits” and do not represent genuine carbon reductions.
The analysis raises questions over the credits bought by a number of
internationally renowned companies – some of them have labelled their products
“carbon neutral”, or have told their consumers they can fly, buy new clothes or
eat certain foods without making the climate crisis worse.
But doubts have been raised repeatedly over whether they are really effective.
The nine-month investigation has been undertaken by the
Guardian, the German
weekly
Die Zeit and SourceMaterial, a non-profit investigative journalism
organisation. It is based on new analysis of scientific studies of Verra’s
rainforest schemes.
It has also drawn on dozens of interviews and on-the-ground reporting with
scientists, industry insiders and Indigenous communities. The findings – which
have been strongly disputed by Verra – are likely to pose serious questions for
companies that are depending on offsets as part of their net zero strategies."
Via Doug Senko.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
