Junk Offsets Are Feeding Wave of Greenwashing, Study Shows
- Media Manager
- Aug 24, 2023
- 1 min read
Bloomberg
Written By: Gautam Naik and Natasha White
Published: August 24, 2023
Only 6% of offsets are linked to additional carbon reductions
Holders of junk credits face growing stranded-asset risk
Corporations relying on carbon credits to support their green claims now face “robust and credible” proof that the vast majority of such securities aren’t fit for purpose, according to a study published in the journal Science.
The research, which analyzed 18 carbon-offset projects across Peru, Colombia, Cambodia, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, found that only 5.4 million — or 6% — of a potential 89 million credits were linked to additional carbon reductions through preserved forests. More than 60 million carbon credits originated from projects that barely reduced deforestation.
“There has been a suspicion that these carbon credits lead to greenwashing,” Andreas Kontoleon, the study’s senior author and a professor of environmental economics and public policy at the University of Cambridge, said in an interview. “We now have robust and credible evidence that offset programs have deficiencies.”
