Every day, people are invited to buy products and services with supposed climate benefits – whether this be “carbon-neutral flights”, “net-zero beef” or “carbon-negative coffee”.

Such claims rely on “carbon offsets”.

Put simply, carbon offsets involve an entity that emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere paying for another entity to pollute less.

For example, an airline in a developed country that wants to claim it is reducing its emissions can pay for a patch of rainforest to be protected in the Amazon. This – in theory – “cancels out” some of the airline’s pollution.

It is not just businesses that are relying on carbon offsets. Major economies, too, are investing in carbon offsets as a way to meet their international emissions targets – with offsetting becoming a major talking point at UN climate negotiations.

For its supporters, offsetting is a mutually beneficial system that funnels billions of dollars into emissions-cutting projects in developing countries, such as renewable energy projects or clean cooking initiatives.

But offsetting has also faced intense scrutiny from researchers, the media and – increasingly – law courts, with businesses facing accusations of “greenwashing” over their carbon-offsetting claims.

There is mounting evidence that offset projects, from clean-cooking initiatives to forest protection schemes, have been overstating their ability to cut emissions. One yet-to-be published study suggests that just 12% of offsets being sold result in “real emissions reductions”.

Projects have also been linked to Indigenous people being forced from their land and other human rights abuses.

Decades of countries trading carbon offsets has had a negligible impact on emissions and likely even increased them.

In this in-depth Q&A, Carbon Brief explains what offsets are, how they are being used by businesses and nations, and why they can be a problematic climate solution.

The article also explores whether a system, which one expert describes as “deeply broken”, could ever be effectively reformed.

Read the full article on the Carbon Brief website

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https://www.carbonbrief.org/in-depth-qampa-can-carbon-offsets-help-to-tackle-climate-change/