Are carbon off-setting schemes a sham?
Last night, Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, The Great Green Smokescreen, took issue with the booming carbon off-setting companies, that are claiming to be taking steps towards addressing global warming. With green being the new black, companies such as Barclays, Dell, HSBC and Sky are falling over themselves to join in on the business of carbon off-setting.
Some would have us believe that paying to have a few trees planted or even just dedicating a few trees to carbon off-setting, or, funding already existing renewable energy projects, are ways to ‘tackle’ global warming. However, appearances are often deceptive and many of the so-called carbon off-setting projects don’t stand up to scrutiny.
The problem with planting trees to offset carbon emissions is that some of the trees may die or be knocked down in the future and even if this is not the case, trees take a long time to grow! Some carbon off-setting initiatives don’t even bother to plant trees. In exchange for your money they will dedicate some trees that are already part of a forest, to help cancel out your carbon footprint. This begs the question, do these trees somehow know that you are dedicating them to reducing carbon dioxide levels and thus take in more CO2 as a result?
Other problems with carbon-offsetting initiatives include, for instance, knowing exactly how many tonnes of CO2 an aircraft gives off. In fact, knowing how much CO2 is involved in any activity is hard to measure. Different carbon off-setting companies will charge you different rates to neutralise your carbon imprint, depending on what criteria they use. Big businesses are currently making token gestures that are more about creating the appearance of being green, rather than genuine altruistic endeavours.
The general populace are not much better. Rather than taking personal action to reduce our carbon emissions, we pay someone else to cancel them out. It’s just a way of negating personal responsibility. The only way we can begin to tackle the growing problem of global warming, is if we all take it seriously and change our attitudes and lifestyles.
