{"id":140740,"date":"2021-10-12T20:24:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T14:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=140740"},"modified":"2021-10-20T13:16:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T07:46:28","slug":"we-cant-stabilise-the-climate-without-carbon-offsets-so-how-do-we-make-them-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/we-cant-stabilise-the-climate-without-carbon-offsets-so-how-do-we-make-them-work\/","title":{"rendered":"We can’t stabilise the climate without carbon offsets \u2014 so how do we make them work?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis:<\/span><\/b> Carbon offsetting affords an opportunity to achieving net-zero emission targets but only if its done with full integrity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Carbon offsetting has been in news lately. The Grattan Institute released a new report on the role of offsetting in achieving net zero targets.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Carbon offsetting is a difficult part of the climate change conversation worldwide and, because of past problems, there\u2019s understandable cynicism about its potential.<\/p>\n

What is offsetting?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Offsetting refers to <\/span>reducing emissions or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in one place to make up for emissions <\/span><\/b>in another. <\/span><\/p>\n

Though it aims to lower the costs of reducing emissions, in worst case it can increase the costs and give us false confidence about our progress towards net zero emissions. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Offsetting is often done through a system of credits or offsets<\/strong> \u2014 units that represent one tonne of emissions reductions achieved, or one tonne of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Must Read<\/strong>: More companies pledge net-zero emissions to fight climate change, but what does that really mean?<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

For instance<\/strong>, a mining company<\/strong> with a net-zero target, <\/span>might be able to partially reduce its emissions through adjusting its operations, but could find it still has emissions that are too expensive or technically impossible to reduce. In this case, it might buy an \u201coffset\u201d to cover these emissions. The offset could come from another company<\/strong> with plenty of options to reduce emissions (such as a landfill owner), or it might come from an activity like tree-planting.<\/p>\n

What objections are frequently raised against carbon offsetting?
\n<\/strong><\/h5>\n

– <\/strong>Some see it as an excuse for polluting companies<\/strong> to delay reducing emissions.<\/p>\n

– <\/strong>Others say it destroys the fabric of rural communities<\/strong> because it encourages farmers to turn farming land into places for tree-planting and other carbon-storage activities.<\/p>\n

– <\/strong>Some international schemes have been criticised for crediting offsetting activities that aren\u2019t \u201cadditional<\/strong>\u201d. This refers to activity that would have happened anyway, such as rewarding a landholder for maintaining vegetation that was never going to be cleared, or rewarding a manufacturer for investing in low-emissions technology when that would have occurred regardless.<\/p>\n

– <\/strong>Moreover, if there are too many emissions reduction or removal activities<\/strong> that are credited but didn\u2019t actually happen (\u201chollow\u201d offsets), then we get a false sense of progress<\/strong> towards net zero. This limits the market\u2019s effectiveness. If buyers aren\u2019t sure they\u2019re getting what they pay for, they won\u2019t pay as much. This pushes prices down, which limits the number of producers willing to do offsetting, because they won\u2019t be paid as much.<\/p>\n

What is the way forward?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Investment in research and development:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Governments should invest in research and development and early-stage technology development, such as direct-air carbon capture and storage. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stronger policies to reduce emissions<\/span><\/b>: Steps should be taken to cut emissions from transport, industry and agriculture.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0This post is based on the article ”\u00a0<\/span>We can’t stabilise the climate without carbon offsets \u2014 so how do we make them work? <\/span><\/b>” published in <\/span>The Down to Earth<\/span><\/b> on <\/span>11th October 2021.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Synopsis: Carbon offsetting affords an opportunity to achieving net-zero emission targets but only if its done with full integrity. Introduction\u00a0 Carbon offsetting has been in news lately. The Grattan Institute released a new report on the role of offsetting in achieving net zero targets.\u00a0 Carbon offsetting is a difficult part of the climate change conversation… Continue reading We can’t stabilise the climate without carbon offsets \u2014 so how do we make them work?\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[9286,10288,408,216],"class_list":["post-140740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-carbon-emission","tag-carbon-offsetting","tag-climate-change","tag-gs-paper-3","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704835428},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}