Context Check: Carbon Offsets

Positive

Forests eat carbon.

LifeArchivedRead

Middle of the Road

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday proposed legislation setting a goal for the United States to plant a trillion trees by 2050 to fight global warming, a plan intended to address climate change by sucking carbon out of the air instead of by cutting emissions.

US,CLIMATECHANGE,USA,TREES,Pollution,Climate Change,Carbon / Emissions Markets,Environment,General News,Lawmaking,Pictures,Government / Politics,Picture Available,Corporate / Market Regulation,Reuters Top News,United States,US Government News,Climate Politics, US, CLIMATECHANGE, USA, TREES, Pollution, Climate Change, Carbon / Emissions Markets, Environment, General News, Lawmaking, Pictures, Government / Politics, Picture Available, Corporate / Market Regulation, Reuters Top News, United States, US Government News, Climate PoliticsReadArchived

Offsets have become a wildly popular — and controversial — way to fight climate change.

Front Page, Explainers, Energy & Environment, Climate Change, Science & Health, Business & Finance, Future PerfectArchivedRead

Duncan Clark summarises the offsetting debate in this edited extract from The Rough Guide to Green Living

Carbon offsetting, Environment, Greenhouse gas emissions, Carbon footprints, Climate crisisArchivedRead

Carbon Offsets on Fire

With wildfires raging, are forest carbon offsets still a safe bet?

ReadArchived

California’s emissions reduction program is going up in smoke because regulators severely underestimated the impact of climate change-fueled wildfires.

Greenhouse gas emissions, Renewable energy, Environmental policy, Emissions trading, S Energy, Carbon emission trading, Microsoft, William Anderegg, Climate change mitigation, Bodie Cabiyo, Articles, Carbon offset, Elizabeth Willmott, Barbara Haya, Environment, Nature, Climate change policy, BP, Wildfire, Carbon finance, GizmodoReadArchived

"They’re risky and difficult to control, which contributes to them burning for longer."

LifeArchivedRead

"Eighty-six large forest fires are burning across 12 states. Among the trees they’re torching are ones being used as carbon credits, showing the danger of relying on forests to offset emissions elsewhere."

ArchivedRead

Negative

As businesses in California race to tamp down their emissions by buying carbon offsets, some serious math errors in the program may mean more carbon dioxide—not less—is being added to the atmosphere.

Carbon offset, Environment, Renewable energy, Climate change policy, Carbon credit, Environmental policy, Carbon neutrality, Carbon emission trading, Carbon finance, Articles, Politics of climate change, Timothy Searchinger, Greenhouse gas emissions, Emissions trading, Danny Cullenward, GizmodoReadArchived

The NFT space has a ballooning carbon problem. But rather than address emissions head-on, platforms may be turning to at best, self-deception and at worst, greenwashing by relying on carbon offsets.

Blockchains, Greenhouse gas emissions, Blockchain art, Jesse Bragg, Carbon finance, Josh Bijak, Kyle McDonald, Ethereum, Mike Winkelmann, Articles, Carbon offset, Tyler Winklevoss, Environment, Joanie Lemercier, Cryptocurrencies, Crypto art, Technology, Decentralization, GizmodoReadArchived

The hunger for these offsets is blinding us to the mounting pile of evidence that they haven't — and won't — deliver the climate benefit they promise.

ArchivedRead

Trees can slow the warming of our planet by taking carbon out of the air, but only if they’re healthy. Hotter, longer summers could soon be weakening trees beyond repair, devastating whole forests and turning them into sources of carbon.

ReadArchived

Avoided emissions seem like a (well-intentioned?) shell game

ArchivedRead

Investigation into Verra carbon standard finds most are ‘phantom credits’ and may worsen global heating

Carbon offsetting, Greenhouse gas emissions, Environment, Climate crisis, Deforestation, Ethical and green living, Shell, Gucci, World newsArchivedRead

Carbon Footprints

“This is one of the most successful, deceptive PR campaigns maybe ever.”

LifeArchivedRead