Carbon credits are flawed, but they can still help save forest

 

Image courtesy of Heikki Valve, CC BY-SA 3.0

Joel Kontinen

Carbon credits are wrong, but they can save forests that is good for the environment.

In 1986, an energy CEO heard a briefing about climate change and felt guilty that his company was building a coal-fired power plant in Connecticut. The company eventually paid to plant trees for timber in Guatemala so farmers would stop cutting down intact forest, in theory compensating for the coal plant’s carbon emissions.

The idea would develop into markets that allow companies to offset their emissions by buying “voluntary” carbon credits that help avoid deforestation, among other measures. Advocates say land users should be paid to leave a forest standing. Critics say maybe the land users weren’t going to cut down the forest anyway.

Source:

 Alec Luhn 2026 Carbon credits are flawed, but they can still help save forests | New Scientist12 May