Carbon offsets, local renewables and nature conservation - realising the links

June 2005

Ecos - A Review of Conservation;2005, Vol. 26 Issue 2, p38

Periodical

Article

This article discusses the use and potential of carbon offsetting for rebalancing the carbon cycle. National governments as well as international agreements emphasise the role of carbon offsets. However, this concept too has its critics. Carbon offsets are a way by which consumers and businesses can offset some or all of their carbon dioxide emissions by funding or purchasing carbon emissions reductions elsewhere. A related concept is sequestration, in which emissions are balanced by creating newly forested lands. Using offsetting and sequestration, businesses which find it too costly or impractical to reduce their own emissions, can contribute by paying for reductions elsewhere. This is highly useful, since the global circulation of carbon dioxide implies that it does not matter where the emission cuts are actually carried out. Carbon offsetting can however be a challenge in times of global economic expansion, since there is in such times a constant pressure to use energy, without caring for where it comes from.

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