Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Fucking of course! It's a scheme where a rich guy pays some other rich guy to produce a piece of paper in which he pinky-promises to slightly reduce his immense carbon emissions, mostly for the first guy to satisfy a regulator or for marketing purposes. Nothing can go wrong here folks, because all rich guys always keep their promises, especially when there's no incentive for them to do so!

The major issues the authors seem to identify are:

1. Non-Additional Credits

Projects are credited for actions that would have happened anyway.

2. Impermanence

Many offset projects are temporary and can be easily undone. For example: Tree-planting projects where forests are later destroyed by eg Wildfires

3. Leakage

Offset projects often simply displace environmental problems rather than solving them.

4. Double-Counting

Multiple parties claim credit for the same emissions reduction.

what system, the guardian? 🪿