Global Scientific Panel To "Carbon Offset" Industry - Reform Or Go Out Of Business

The carbon-credit market must reform or “go out of business”, leading scientists have concluded in an international review of the offsetting industry. The market for carbon offsets shrank dramatically last year after a series of scientific and media reports found many offsetting schemes had little environmental impact.

However, if comprehensively reformed, offsetting could still generate billions of dollars for action on the climate and biodiversity, experts concluded.

The Climate Crisis Advisory Group (CCAG), headed by the former UK chief scientific adviser Sir David King and made up of some of the world’s leading scientists, has produced a new assessment of the voluntary carbon market and how it can rebuild trust. The unregulated sector should adopt rigorous scientific standards to produce carbon credits, ensure financial benefits were clear to local communities involved with projects, and prioritise carbon-removal projects that suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, the CCAG said.

King said it was clear that there were deep problems with the current system for producing many carbon credits and that unless the voluntary carbon market changed, it would go out of business and be replaced by a system with higher standards. “The voluntary carbon market is very reluctant to take this fully on board. Our report is totally independent of them. It is going to be challenging, but our simple message is that unless you do this, you’re out of business,” he said. “Trust has been lost and it’s got to be regained.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/26/voluntary-carbon-market-offsetting-industry-reforms-cccg-climate-crisis-advisory-group-aoe