Carbon offsetting scheme faces criticism
The carbon offsetting industry is a fast growing business, and like any growth industry there is money to be made. Unfortunately, the lure of easy money has attracted players into the carbon offsetting market that are more interested in making a quick profit than saving the planet. There are some valid concerns being raised by environmentalists about the scheme in general and then there are the ‘cowboys’ in the industry. The combination of these two factors is discrediting the carbon offsetting industry and possibly driving away businesses from the scheme. The main concerns are that the firms being paid to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere are not audited properly and are not actually fulfilling their quotas for CO2 reduction. The other concern is that companies are buying CO2 offsets as an easy option rather than looking at ways of becoming more energy efficient and reducing their own carbon footprint.
There are many good reasons to have a carbon offsetting scheme in place, but it needs to be regulated and monitored. There need to be legal standards and external verification and auditing to ensure that offsetting companies are adhering to the legally set guidelines and practices. In this way the scheme will not only be effective, it will have the confidence of businesses and environmentalists.
