Companies are talking about their ESG efforts, and I’ve noticed this term appearing a few times now.
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So the buyers perspective has kind of been covered so far I think, in short it’s ‘carbon accounting’ – I produce 40 tonnes CO² but I buy credits worth 40 tonnes and therefore have produced *net* zero.
Now this might sound like bullshit and it probably is a bit. But one thing that’s not been covered is the sellers.
Countries that have fast swathes of natural habitats like forest and swamp land who are maybe not as ‘well off’ as big industrial countries are often pretty pissed when places like the USA and Europe have smashed all their natural resources and got rich, and then tell little guys hey don’t cut down your forests to grow produce and earn a living. But now they can be paid to not cut it down. They can auction off carbon credits that represent them not destroying their habitat so they can then have income without destroying nature (like everyone else did in the past). It’s not perfect but it does help distribute the burden of carbon neutrality.
Check out
https://verra.org/programs/verified-carbon-standard/
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