The carbon offsetting system needs fundamental change.
A recent investigation into the biggest certifier of carbon credits found that more than 90% of its rainforest carbon offsets were worthless. Certifiers are financially incentivised by volume, with a lack of accountability eroding trust in the system.
We are calling for government intervention in the verification process and for the impact and regulation of offsetting to be localised to provide genuine carbon reductions and deliver wider public value.
The council infrastructure and funding from business are already in place.
It’s time to re-route the system, with local government acting as the fulcrum between local sustainability projects and end buyers.
We believe that localising the funding and impact will produce better oversight and governance and help engineer behavioural change from businesses, government and residents.
Want to find out more? Read our paper on this topic. You can download it here.
