Are the majority of all climate projects overrated?
investigations of Time and des Guardians have analyzed the effectiveness of climate certificates. The results show that many projects are overvalued.
Ever since we became aware of the effects of climate change, numerous governments around the world have made enormous efforts to counteract the risks. However, since we cannot reduce all emissions to zero overnight, a certificate system for greenhouse gases was established. The principle behind it is relatively simple.
If companies want to celebrate being carbon neutral, they have to smooth out all emissions. This can be done with certificates that offset certain amounts of CO2, for example.
In order for this to work, there are certified projects that compensate for greenhouse gases, for example through reforestation or the expansion of renewable energies. However, the number of available certificates decreases every year and as a result the prices increase.
What effect do climate certificates have?
But this certificate trade seems to have some problems. Because loud an investigation of Time and the British Guardians dozens of certificates are in circulation without any real effect. Projects that focus on the protection of forest areas are problematic.
According to the research, these are massively overestimated and do not reflect the true amount of compensated greenhouse gases.
For this purpose, 29 out of 87 forest protection projects were examined. Around 90 percent of the certificates issued are said to be completely ineffective. In terms of carbon dioxide, offsetting 89 million tons of CO2 is not happening at all. There is also another catch.
Climate projects: One non-governmental organization benefits in particular
Because the compensation of greenhouse gases only works if the forest areas exist in the long term. If they are cut down one day or fall victim to a fire, the stored carbon dioxide is immediately released again. Then all certificates based on it are also invalid. One non-governmental organization (NGO) stands out in the study.
We are talking about Verra, an officially certified body that is allowed to issue certificates based on forest protection projects. According to the journalists, the organization should know about the overvaluation and not really intervene in the system. The reason seems to be that the NGO benefits from it.
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