Summary: Carbon offsetting has spread quickly in the past few years, fueled by worries of human induced climate change. The newfound popularity of carbon offsets warrants a closer examination of their legitimacy. Studies of some carbon offset schemes have revealed examples of fraud and abuse. These examples caution against the use of offsets for regulatory compliance.
This report offers an in-depth look into one of the most prominent carbon offset marketers in the United States, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF). The audit casts serious doubt on whether carbon offsets will ever be a product that can be verifiable and additional. The problems that plague the carbon offset concept will most likely never be solved, meaning that the offset mechanism will always be questionable in delivering real verifiable reductions in greenhouse gases.
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