PrintMarch 17, 2007
The fraud behind carbon credits
The sale of indulgences for those who emit so-called greenhouse gases is built on widespread fraud. The illusion of "carbon neutrality" is very often nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Business Week, hardly a conservative source, has investigated a number of these schemes and found widespread questionable practices.
For example, consider the carbon offsets included in the OscarsTM goodie bag:
Each Oscar favor represented 100,000 pounds of emission reductions drawn from TerraPass' portfolio of offset projects.
One of the largest in its portfolio is a sprawling garbage dump outside of Springdale, Ark., from which TerraPass has purchased thousands of tons of gas reductions. [....]... one thing is clear: The methane system was launched long before any promise of carbon-offset sales. In other words, it appears that the main effects of the TerraPass offsets in this instance are to salve guilty celebrity consciences and provide Waste Management [owner of the dump], a $13 billion company based in Houston, with some extra revenue.
Other similar schemes were uncovered by BW. Companies forced by regulators to take action subsequently sell them as offsets. Nobody is reducing any CO2 emissions as a result of money changing hands.
Common sense tells anyone that if you think it is a bad thing to generate carbon dioxide, you should curtail your activities that do so. Anything else is morally fraudulent.
Hat tip: Ed Lasky
Hat tip: Ed Lasky
