Offsetting closer at home.What CalC02 does differently.

Photo - Carbon offsetting project with Boroume - reducing food waste

We all know of carbon offsetting projects in far away places: the Amazonian rainforest, Indonesian plantations, solar panels in Africa, etc. Their rationale debatable at best. Is paying a farmer good money so that he shelves his plans to cut down trees a solid proposition? Was he really planning to cut down these trees and when? Will he abide and for how long? The questions linger. Most of us have chosen to be somewhat more relaxed about it, it's a climate emergency after all and we can't afford ourselves the luxury of being too diligent. And these offsets appear low cost which makes them attractive. Right?

But then, further concerns come to the surface. A recent article at the Guardian claims that more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by a large certifier (Verra) are worthless. The article which was researched with help from Source Material and the University of Cambridge has looked in detail into Verra's projects before concluding that just eight out of 29 approved projects showed evidence of meaningful deforestation reductions.

Not all carbon offsetting projects are based on shaky foundations. But our trust is being shaken and it seems that, sadly, market forces driving down carbon offset prices and the emergence of large for-profit organisations dealing in these, is a combination that increases the risk of misreporting and fraud in this loosely regulated environment.

At CalC02 we look closer at home for our offsetting projects and we apply due diligence throughout the selection process. We are not fixated on the low offsetting price. We try to support organisations aiming to drive changes in our behavior in the developed world, rather than trying to change the ways of the developing world.

At the moment our carbon offset project supports 3 carefully vetted and hand-pickedorganizations: Boroume, Swaplanet and Plan(e)t Foods.

Read more about them and offset your carbon emissions here.