Well duh.
You have the pseudo-environmentalists conning the oh-so-fashion-forward corporations with their faux solutions and it's no wonder that fifteen years ago people were already comparing the transaction to the sale of indulgences by the medieval Catholic Church. (see links below)
Or Dorothy's Ruby Slippers: "Click your heels three times" and believe. Or:
From The Guardian, August 25
Many credits in the voluntary market going unused, with study finding some offsetting could make global heating worse
Carbon credit speculators could lose billions as scientific evidence shows many offsets they have bought have no environmental worth and have become stranded assets.
Amid growing evidence that huge numbers of carbon credits do nothing to mitigate global heating and can sometimes be linked to alleged human rights concerns, there is a growing pile of carbon credits equivalent to the annual emissions of Japan, the world’s fifth largest polluter, that are unused in the unregulated voluntary market, according to market analysis.
From Apple to Disney, Gucci to Shell, many of the largest companies in the world have used carbon credits for their sustainability efforts from the unregulated voluntary market, which grew to $2bn (£1.6bn) in size in 2021 and saw prices for many carbon credits rise above $20 per offset.
The credits are often generated on the basis they are contributing to climate change mitigation such as stopping tropical deforestation, tree planting and creating renewable energy projects in developing countries. Proponents say they need to massively increase in size and scale to help meet the Paris agreement to limit global heating.
But repeated scandals about their true impact and a crackdown from regulators on claims of “carbon neutrality” have meant that demand and prices for offsetting have slumped, with signs that some carbon credit traders are writing off investments that would have been worth hundreds of millions of dollars as recently as last year.....
....MUCH MORE
Since this is all political abracadabra it is probably wise to heed the words of our first inductee into the Climateer Hall of Fame:
"The honest politician is one who when he is bought, will stay bought."
Just making the point that if your business model depends on politicians, you'd best bet on dependable politicians.
Or stock up on Depends.
Huh.
Irony can be pretty ironic.
Climate/Energy: "Mark Carney, man of destiny, arises to revolutionize society. It won't be pleasant"
"Deadwood Releasing 10.9 Gigatons of Carbon Every Year – More Than All Fossil Fuel Emissions Combined"
Hence the futility, or folly, or fraud of "plant a tree" carbon offsets.
However....people with an interest in insect farts may have a solution.
More Carbon Credit Shenanigans: The Massachusetts Audubon Society
Following on the sordid tale of the Nature Conservancy's racket.
"A Top U.S. Seller of Carbon Offsets Starts Investigating Its Own Projects"
"Norway, Sweden, and Finland Evicting Ugandan Farmers For Carbon Credits"
One
of the worst approaches to carbon capital there is.The folks who,
fifteen years ago, were likening carbon credits to the old skool
Catholic church selling indulgences to absolve rich parishioners of
their sins were not that far off. The credits basically allow you to
continue doing what you were doing or, as US climate czar John Kerry
said when jetting off to Iceland in his private plane to receive a
climate change leadership award....
