EU may allow carbon credits from developing countries to count towards climate goals
www.theguardian.com
Exclusive: Green groups furious at plans to let member states buy controversial carbon offsets from overseas

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/24142922

archived (Wayback Machine)

Carbon credits have often been based on non-existent contracts with local people, or used for land-grabbing, or reforestation projects in which trees were not maintained and were soon cut down or eaten by cows, or otherwise fraudulent. In any case, letting humans take credit for photosynthesis is flawed emissions accounting, and the price of each credit is much lower than the social and environmental cost of the emissions that it offsets.

  • Saleh@feddit.orgEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    I’d say these issues are fundamental with “carbon credits” unless there is a reliable global authority that can ensure these credits to actually reflect the emissions of a country vs. the permissible emissions under the 1.5°C goal.

    We need to establish such an authority before we start dealing in “carbon credits” globally. Until then they can only be dealt in locally, assuming that locally the values are actually realistic.