Since their inception more than 30 years ago, carbon offsets have given false comfort to those seeking easy solutions to the climate crisis. Encouraging one party to continue pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, while paying another to do the opposite has been a giant diversion: side-tracking us from decarbonising our economies and lives. One scandal after another has...
A Dubai-based company, Blue Carbon, inked a deal with Zimbabwe to create carbon credits from offsetting projects in the African country involving almost a fifth of its total landmass. The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth $1.5 billion to fund forest protection and rehabilitation projects. The carbon sequestered of the forests will...
A company established by a Dubai sheikh is finalizing agreements with African nations to manage vast tracts of their forests and sell the carbon credits. Critics are concerned the deals will not benefit Africans and will just help foreign governments perpetuate high emissions. A prominent sheikh in the oil-rich Gulf state hosting this year’s UN...
In early 2023, the Guardian published an article suggesting that more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets are worthless. These credits are essentially a promise to protect forests and can be bought as a way to “offset” emissions elsewhere. Verra, the largest certifier of these offset credits, said the claims were “absolutely incorrect” but the story still...