Three reasons why carbon offsetting doesn’t work

Carbon offsetting approaches involve implementing actions to sequester carbon dioxide to compensate for it. broadcastbroadcast of greenhouse gases. In most cases, the action implemented by the company involves planting trees anywhere in the world. So a company can release carbon in the Paris region and decide to compensate for this pollution by planting a certain number of trees in the Amazon. In theory, this carbon compensation should also be accompanied by an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But, in reality, carbon offsetting is far from meeting its objectives. Know the three main reasons.

Young planted trees take effect after several decades

Planting hundreds or thousands of young trees to absorb carbon is not an effective and quick solution: the best step forward in favor of biodiversity and climateclimate Mature trees are to be preserved. Trees only become really efficient at absorbing carbon when they are around 40 to 50 years of age. Most carbon sequestration occurs in the middle of a tree’s life cycle: between 70 and 140 years, depending on individual conditions. speciesspecies, Suffice it to say that compared to action to protect trees that already exist, the impact of planting a young tree is very limited.

Some trees are destroyed by drought and fire

A significant portion of these young planted trees do not survive in the first year due to various factors such as poor location, conditions weather reportweather report difficult or parasiteparasite, But, in recent years it has increased manifold drydry Who wreaked havoc. According to an IGN study published in 2023, tree mortality in France has increased by 80% in a span of 10 years. Additionally, over the same period, tree growth slowed by 4%, largely due to drought. The world has also faced large fires in recent years that have devastated entire forests: the Landes forest in France in 2022, but also the Amazon in 2023, a region where many companies give their carbon compensation.

Companies do not necessarily reduce their greenhouse gas emissions

Carbon offsetting must be accompanied by a reduction in companies’ pollutant emissions: this offsetting is not an action that is taken instead of an effort to reduce pollution, but in addition to it. A rule that is sometimes forgotten, especially since the calculation of “carbon credits” is very complex.

Investigation carbon offsetting It turns out that many companies use carbon credits (a unit equivalent to one tonne of CO)₂ are avoided or prevented), and communicate about it, even if they do not know the exact level of greenhouse gas emissions they release. So carbon offsetting is completely random. Another concern is not to forget the greenhouse gas emissions that are released for the implementation of carbon offsetting: breeding and planting of young trees can emit carbon when accompanied by the use of fertilizers, transportation, and mechanical equipment.

Carbon offsetting will be of no use to companies, according to a shocking study

article from carine durandcarine durandWritten on October 18, 2023

Place Guardian Conducted a comprehensive findings study on the leading carbon offset provider for large companies. More than 90% of carbon offset projects are in favor tropical foresttropical forest would be completely useless, and some actions would even be downright harmful.

The idea behind the carbon offset mechanism is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by funding a project to reduce its ecological impact. Directly, for an industrial company whose activities emit a lot of CO₂For example, this includes supporting tropical forest reforestation operations. And since there are no carbon limits, these projects are often done on the other side of the world. Each “carbon credit” accumulated by these projects represents the equivalent of one ton of CO₂ Decreased or shrunk in soil or oceans. Whether it’s actual action or purely a communication strategy, carbon offsetting is increasingly being used by companies. But what is it really worth? That’s the question the site’s survey attempted to answer. Guardian Published on 18 January.

94% of carbon credits given to companies should not have been approved

The results of this nine-month study are disappointing: more than 90% of projects involving tropical forests are completely wasteful. To uncover such figures, the investigation is based on projects by the main carbon offset provider, the company Vera, which works with large conglomerates such as Disney, Shell, easyJet, Gucci, as well as rock group Pearl Jam.

Made in partnership with German newspaper DieDie Time and association source material, the study Condemns the fact that almost none of the projects funded have had a beneficial impact on poverty reduction deforestationdeforestation, The allocation of carbon credits to companies would also be distorted: 94% of these carbon credits should not have been granted. Thanks to these carbon credits, many companies were able to communicate about their “carbon neutrality”: this is defined by the balance between greenhouse gas emissions and emissions associated with the activities of these companies. absorptionsabsorptions, In this case, these absorptions clearly pass through projects supporting tropical forests through reforestation actions.

Reforestation projects in areas where forests are performing well

Of the 29 Vera projects studied by the investigators (other projects did not provide information), 8 managed to prove their impact on reducing deforestation. Some projects also took place in forests where deforestation was grossly overestimated, rather than in forests that actually needed support.

Vera’s projects will have very negative consequences on the population nativenative In these tropical forests: By interviewing residents of the sites in question, investigators found that villagers had witnessed the deliberate destruction of their homes by those responsible for the projects. Even though these local populations are considered allies in the protection of forests. On its part, Vera Company believes that the allegations Guardian are distorted and investigators have not understood the methodology used for reforestation projects.

Half of companies do not trust carbon offsetting

A global survey, carbon offsetting “Powered by AIDash, with over 500 people responsible for continuous developmentcontinuous development It turns out that 41% of them say they don’t use carbon credits because of a lack of confidence. The study also shows that 56% of companies do not measure most of their greenhouse gas emissions. However, 43% use carbon credits. So this is like saying that many companies use carbon credits and communicate about them, even though they are not aware of the exact level of greenhouse gas emissions they release!