Carbon offsets - how do they work, and who sets the rules?

Carbon offsets are when a polluting company buys a carbon credit to make up for the greenhouse gas it has emitted. The money should be used to fund action somewhere in the world that removes the same amount of carbon out of the air, or to prevent carbon emissions.

Detractors say that offsetting is ‘greenwash’, allowing companies to avoid cutting their emissions while still being able to claim they are, or will be, carbon neutral.

Proponents say offsetting, if done properly, can help channel funds to conservation and sustainable development projects that will reduce emissions, giving companies time to work towards zero emissions.

On this podcast, we speak to Rachel Kyte, co-chair of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative which is building a rulebook that aims to ensure offsetting does what it claims to do.

And we hear from Dharsono Hartono, CEO of Rimba Makmur Utama, an Indonesian company  that manages the Katingan Mentaya Project, a forest in Borneo, Indonesia, that generates carbon credits.

Written and presented by Robin Pomeroy Editing: Jere Johansson Studio production: Gareth Nolan

Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/carbon-offsets-radio-davos

Forests for Climate report due out in second half of September 2022: www.weforum.org/forests-for-climate

Links: https://vcmintegrity.org/ https://katinganproject.com/who-we-are