Carbon Offsets: The story of how I went from skeptic to supporter and then part owner of Big Tree Climate Fund, purveyors of Fair Carbon™.

Few things have been more maligned, more debated and scrutinized in this era of blooming green than the Carbon Offset. Some say they are, after all, akin to an indulgence, they don’t solve any problems directly and they are a method of deferral. But are they? I have come to see them as wonderful and valuable transition tools that generate funding for important projects and that have given value to some of nature’s unvalued services. I eventually learned that, as with any other powerful tool, the tool itself is not good or bad, but it is the intention with which it is used.

At first, as many were, I was wary of the notion of these offsets.

“What do you mean a person or company can buy off their responsibility to take action on the CO2 they are responsible for emitting?” For that is what I thought they were for.

“We need direct action, not deferred responsibility!”

As I dug deeper into the world of the carbon offset, however, I learned that at the other side of the transaction there was an important thing going on: projects were being funded. Not just any old projects or ones that were already getting funded, these were projects that existed solely because of carbon offsets and relied on them for their survival. The purpose of these projects: to prevent the release of climate change-causing greenhouse gases (GHGs) or to remove them from the atmosphere. Pretty noble to start with, but many projects went farther, and those were the ones I was interested in. More on these later.

Sure the system was gamed early on. Carbon cowboys came out of the woodwork and were selling nothing but a bunch of hot global warming gases. There was very little oversight and it was difficult for well-meaning purchasers of carbon offsets to know what they were really getting. Thankfully these days are past. Third-party certifications and registries have come up to look into the closets of the carbon project developers and to make sure that the offsets that are on the market are real, beyond business-as-usual, not double counted, verified, and permanent. The consumer need only be sure that they are buying offsets certified by the most reputable certification bodies* and the guess work is removed.

It’s all about the project

Removing CO2 and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere is the basis of how carbon offsets work. A project will plant trees that suck up CO2, cap a landfill to prevent the release of methane, capture methane from cow poop, save a forest about to be felled or do many other things to create carbon offsets. Each year the project measures how many tons of greenhouse gases have been saved from the atmosphere that year, has that number verified by the certification body, and is issued that number of carbon offsets (each carbon offset = one ton of CO2). When those carbon offsets are sold, the project makes their revenue and can pay back the lenders that funded this project.

A ton of CO2 is a ton of CO2. What makes a carbon offset good or bad these days, once it has been certified, has to do with the project and that can be a personal decision. What type of project do you want your money funding? Does that project have any co-benefits (things it does beyond removing GHGs)? Where is it located? Etc…

This is where I will give my opinion. I want my carbon offsets to have co-benefits! I believe removing GHGs is crucially important, but not the only thing we need to be doing. That is why I, and the company that I’m a part of, support forestry based carbon offsets. That means either tree planting or forest protection. For my dollar there is no other offset that can match the co-benefits of a forestry offset, especially one that involves a social component. These offsets remove CO2 from the atmosphere by ensuring forests around the world stay healthy and are replanted. They protect bio-diversity, watersheds, local climates, oxygen generation, the lifestyles of forest peoples and more. Plus, the emissions from deforestation are a huge challenge we face. About 20% of global emissions come from deforestation, that is more than the entire global transportation sector!

Giving value to our forests

In my opinion, one of the greatest things carbon offsets have done is give economic value to our intact forests. Never before has a dollar value been assigned to a protected forest ecosystem. With offsets, however, the fact that standing forests contain and sequester CO2, and that the CO2 would be released if the forest were felled or burned, has given these ecosystems significant value. Finally, through the sale of carbon offsets, a protected forest can generate income. This gives incentive to local populations to forgo destroying these trees and generate income by protecting them instead. Finally the economic externalities that have not been accounted for in the past such us destroying ecosystems and losing the services they provide, or polluting, are beginning to be internalized; a crucial step toward achieving global sustainability.

To be fair, there have been issues with forestry offsets in the past, primarily due to the issue of potential impermanence (what if the trees burn down?) and accuracy of measurement. Thankfully these issues have been addressed by the certification bodies. Strict monitoring, measurement and verification protocols have been established to improve the accuracy of measuring the sequestered CO2 in forests. To insure against impermanence, the certification bodies force the project to withhold a significant portion of their carbon credits from sale (20-50% depending on the risk). Should catastrophe befall the project, the withheld “buffer” credits will be used to replace the lost ones. This system is tough on the project developers but helps solidify forest projects as valuable offsetting category with unmatched co-benefits.

Additionally, I like my carbon offsets to empower the inhabitants near the project area. To create jobs, to give them a say in what is happening in their backyard and to help them benefit from what is going on. I believe that climate change, and the other pressing environmental issues we are facing as planet, need to be addressed from the bottom up. The little guy needs to be able to prosper in order for change to occur. Enter the concept of Fair Carbon™. Carbon offsets that strive to improve the lot of locals while removing GHGs.

How they are used

As I mentioned in the introduction, it is how the tool is used that determines its effectiveness. We are entering the age of “greenwashing” awareness. More and more people are becoming skeptical of claims of greenness by companies that are otherwise “brown.” Carbon offsets have been a primary greenwashing tool in the past. Fortunately this is getting rarer and we are finding that it is primarily the companies that are already green that are choosing to go the extra mile and buy offsets.

Offsets are well suited to deal with aspects of a person or company’s operations that are difficult to make more efficient or to eliminate. There are currently no suitable alternatives to flying or shipping when people or products have to be transported. This is where offsets are a great asset to a green company’s sustainability portfolio. Employees feel good about the action and it is just one more way that a green company can put its money where it’s mouth is, take responsibility for its impact and be a part of the solution.

I hope this outlines some of the strengths and weaknesses of carbon offsets. While they should not be treated as the final solution to our environmental challenges, when used properly and in conjunction with other actions, they are extremely valuable as transition tools and may well help save our planets forests from destruction. Additionally, they help responsible people and companies put their money where there mouths are and be a part of the solution.

*Reputable certification standards: The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), Climate Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCB), The Gold Standard, Social Carbon Standard and more…