Carbon offsets are an accounting mechanism that allows nations, companies, and individuals to purchase a certificate that lets them lay claim to the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions per dollar amount associated with each metric ton.
Carbon offsets are used by nations and organizations to say that they are working toward eliminating their carbon footprint to the point of “net zero.” But carbon offsets are also increasingly viewed with wariness.
But offsets are just one lever among a set of mitigation strategies companies need to pursue to reduce their carbon emissions, increase their energy-efficiency measures, and transition away from reliance on fossil fuels.
Coming out of COP26 and with the broader awareness of the need to take action to mitigate climate change within the next several decades, demand for carbon offsets is expected to increase five- to tenfold by 2030 as more companies pursue net-zero commitments.
Carbon offsets let developed nations and cash-rich companies buy their way toward climate mitigation without grappling with the impacts the climate crisis is having on poorer people and nations that can least afford fast transitions away from fossil fuel use.
The range of carbon offsets in the future will likely need to include projects and technologies that “suck” greenhouse gases out of the air and either bury or sequester them in rock, oceans, or other man-made materials .