There are 353 posts tagged Carbon Offsets (this is page 1 of 24).
This week sees the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, USA. Organised by California’s governor, Jerry Brown, the Global Climate Action Summit runs from 12 to 14 September 2018.
The UNFCCC recently released a video titled “Keep calm and offset”. The basic premise is that we don’t need to stop driving, flying, or eating meat. We just need to buy carbon credits.
In the last few weeks, California’s governor Jerry Brown has received two letters about climate change. One recommends that he should take meaningful action on climate change. The other recommends that he should provide a loophole to allow the oil industry to continue polluting.
A two day meeting is currently taking place at the Columbia Law School in New York of the Private Sector Advisory Group to the Green Climate Fund. On the agenda is the Green Climate Fund’s funding of forestry projects.
In June 2018, the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) approved rules and standards for its planned carbon trading scheme, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). We are sleepwalking into a climate disaster.
When a company buys REDD carbon credits to offset its continued pollution, it relies on certification organisations such as Verra (previously called Verified Carbon Standard) and the Forest Stewardship Council to prove that the project is genuine, well managed, and really does result in reduced emissions. World Rainforest Movement recently visited the state of Mato Gross, Brazil to investigate the Florestal Santa Maria REDD project. WRM’s report reveals the problems with REDD, the problems with relying on this sort of certification, and the false solution of offsetting emissions from flying.
From 11 to 29 June 2018, the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is meeting in Montreal. Among the topics to be discussed are the rules for the aviation industry’s plans to carry on polluting while offsetting its emissions through its carbon trading scam, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
In December 2007, Norway’s then-prime minister Jens Stoltenberg launched Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI). Stoltenberg announced that Norway would be handing out more than US$500 million a year “to prevent deforestation in developing countries”. Stoltenberg was convinced that stopping deforestation would be quick and cheap.
“The operations of Green Resources — a Norwegian industrial forestry plantation and a carbon offsets company — have resulted in loss of lands, livelihoods and increased hunger for the local communities at Kachung and Bukaleba — its two sites in Uganda.”
Dr Tim Frewer carried out part of the research for his PhD thesis in Cambodia, looking at the Oddar Meanchey REDD project. Following the responses from Terra Global Capital and VCS to Fern’s recent critical report that featured a case study of the Oddar Meanchey project, Frewer sent the following Guest Post to REDD-Monitor.
In November 2017, Fern published a report titled, “Unearned credit: Why aviation industry forest offsets are doomed to fail”. The report takes aim at the aviation industry’s planned carbon trading mechanism, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation.
The state of California is keen to include REDD credits in its cap-and-trade programme. California’s governor Jerry Brown worked closely with the oil industry on California’s climate policy, and is pushing for REDD to be allowed to “offset” ongoing pollution in California.
Emissions from flying continue to rise. In 1986, the aviation industry consumed 2.6 million barrels of jet fuel per day. By 2012, the figure had more than doubled, reaching 5.4 million. The impact on the climate is serious, yet the industry’s response has been worse than useless.
On 9 January 2018, Virgin Atlantic told the Phnom Penh Post that it had stopped buying carbon credits from the Oddar Meanchey REDD project in Cambodia. Virgin Atlantic’s decision followed the publication of a report by Fern that highlights the problems of offsetting emissions from the aviation sector. One of the case studies in the report was Oddar Meanchey.
In 2014, the Oakland Institute published a report about the Norwegian company Green Resources, and the impact on communities living near the company’s industrial tree plantations in Uganda.
