It seems likely that most, if not basically all, carbon offsets one can purchase, are fictional. Meaningful transparency, accounting, and technical validation of the efficacy seem pretty much non-existent. The physical plausibility of big enterprises becoming “carbon neutral” by being massive carbon producers but purchasing offsets to become neutral seems ludicrous. The planet’s ability to absorb gets less every day and yet somehow more and more offsetting is occurring as offsets get sold?
If carbon offsets are fictional, then so are CO2 emissions. The numbers have meaning when summed over the whole planet. If there's no accounting for the whole planet, then they don't mean anything.
It's also ludicrous that carbon intensity should be policed on a scale smaller than the planet. Would it make sense to regulate a semi truck to have the same emissions as a personal car? Or a software company the same as a mining company?
Just because one can point to the current system of accounting and say it's not working doesn't mean there is any alternative to fixing it. It's like pointing out that you won't be able to find your keys in the dark, and advocating looking under the streetlight, when they're not there.
0 surprising info in the article.
Moreover, do we really want to allow big oil to buy carbon credits, with their history of manipulation, lobbying and misrepresenting data...
[+] [-] quantified|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vba616|4 years ago|reply
It's also ludicrous that carbon intensity should be policed on a scale smaller than the planet. Would it make sense to regulate a semi truck to have the same emissions as a personal car? Or a software company the same as a mining company?
Just because one can point to the current system of accounting and say it's not working doesn't mean there is any alternative to fixing it. It's like pointing out that you won't be able to find your keys in the dark, and advocating looking under the streetlight, when they're not there.
[+] [-] wallaBBB|4 years ago|reply
0 surprising info in the article. Moreover, do we really want to allow big oil to buy carbon credits, with their history of manipulation, lobbying and misrepresenting data...