Jan 24, 2019
People are confused about carbon offsetting
How good intentions have sabotaged practical climate action
Let me guess. You care about climate change. You’d like to do something about it. You recycle, use LED lights, and are conscious to lower the heat or turn lights off in your home. At the same time, you like to travel, or must for your job. Fully electric transportation — powered by 100% renewable energy — isn’t yet possible where you live. You consume food and other goods not produced in your own back yard.
You’ve heard about carbon offsetting as a way you can take action. But should you?
It’s no surprise if you’re can’t answer with confidence. There is a lot of vague and even misleading information out there. Climate change is already complex. It affects different places in different ways. There is even some uncertainty about how fast changes could accelerate and how grave they will be. Carbon offsetting seems even more intangible. What is a ton of CO2 anyway? How are carbon credits issued and traded? How much is a credit worth? Maybe you’ve read an article that’s skeptical that carbon offsetting is good way to fight climate change.
Carbon offsetting is the funding the reduction of carbon (CO2) emissions in one part of the world to compensate or “offset” emissions somewhere else, as all CO2 ends up together in our shared atmosphere.
Sound familiar? You aren’t alone. With climate change rising in popular awareness, I’m seeing some great coverage on carbon offsetting, but more often it comes with backhanded compliments that go something like “I guess it’s not bad to do this good thing.” Or worse, the writer sows seeds of doubt without helping readers draw informed conclusions.
In a righteous pursuit of a perfect solution to climate change, well-meaning but often less-than-fully-informed bloggers and journalists have done real damage to practical action. Don’t get me wrong , there have been some problems with carbon offsetting projects and with carbon trading. These should be rightly be called out.
Clean cookstove projects go beyond reducing carbon emissions, providing cleaner air for women and children to breathe, lowering fuel costs or time spent collecting wood for fuel, and reducing pressure on local forests. Its celebrity supporters include actress Julia Roberts and chef Jose Andres.
Even communicators within our industry haven’t done the best job. The UN got it spectacularly wrong last year when they attempted an advertising campaign for their Climate Neutral Now campaign that used humor as a hook. They joked that if only you could hold your breath, you could avoid the CO2 you exhale into the atmosphere.
Misguided message: UNFCCC social media campaign
Cancelling your holidays, selling your car, taking cold showers? Stop breathing, even? There are easier ways to take #climateaction: visit our website to calculate your emissions, reduce & offset them, and …. breathe easy!
Hilarious, right? First problem: climate change isn’t funny. More unfortunately, it lets everyone off the hook for their carbon footprints, when the first focus should always be on reducing climate impact.
All this undermines the viability of thousands of high-impact projects around the world and hinders progress to reach more communities that deserve to benefit from climate action.
What is carbon offsetting really?
At its essence, offsetting is an investment in the transition to a zero-carbon future. It’s what environmental economists call “internalizing externalities.” By holding yourself accountable to finance the same amount of carbon you emit, this not only helps keep your climate impact top of mind, you also create an incentive to further reduce your own emissions.
Where carbon offsetting moves from ‘neutralization’ to real positive change is when you choose carbon credits that maximize positive benefit. (Full disclosure: this is the core focus of Gold Standard, the organization I work for.) These positive impacts — local jobs, better health, access to clean energy and water, biodiversity conservation — support those communities suffering the most from climate change and who have contributed the least to the problem.
The way forward
You absolutely should reduce your travel footprint — especially air travel. You should consume less meat, especially beef. Buy less stuff. The stuff you do buy is better bought locally. The most powerful tool you have is to vote — with your ballot and your wallet. Ask your current representatives and new candidates to support strong climate policies. Choose carbon-neutral or climate-positive products when available. Look for businesses setting Science Based Targets. Start reviewing emerging ESG ratings before investing your money.
Offsetting should be your final step, but it’s an important one. So be sure to select credits issued from high quality standards. Consider the additional sustainable development benefits and go with those that are most important to you. (I like biogas projects myself — the waste-to-energy process is a perfect example of the circular economy.)
In the meantime, rest assured that we are working to make climate protection projects even more ambitious with higher standards and new technologies like satellite monitoring, Internet of Things sensors, artificial intelligence, and blockchain systems to improve impact data quality while reducing the costs to verify it.
Those of us in the environmental advocacy space should take the same tack. Applaud those going furthest in climate action. Encourage and guide those getting started to do more. Pressure the laggards. And most certainly name and shame the hypocrites. We’re on a journey — one of the most important challenges humanity has collectively faced. So let’s bring “all of the above” weapons to this battle.
