http://www.foe.org/dangerous-distraction


A DANGEROUS DISTRACTION: Why offsets are a mistake the U.S. cannot afford to make

Climate destabilization represents one of the greatest threats to life on the planet. Scientists warn that we have to take action quickly to avoid disaster. After years of inaction, the U.S. government is considering legislation now to reduce our emissions of pollutants responsible for climate change. Current proposals before the House and Senate rely heavily on the use of offsets to achieve emission reductions — this approach, especially the use of international offsets, is a dangerous mistake.

International offsets are a mechanism where polluters in the U.S., rather than reducing pollution emissions at their factory or plant, pay for projects in developing countries to make equivalent reductions in emissions that cause global warming. In theory, this makes economic sense as the reductions are made where it is most cost efficient, the projects and revenue can promote sustainable development in poor countries, and globally emissions still fall.

Our report reveals that in the real world, offsets often fail to deliver the promised results and can often lead to increased emissions making climate change worse. The report reviews and synthesizes key findings from leading sources, research, and studies on the use of international offsets. We examine the twelve year record of the Clean Development Mechanism, the largest offset market in the world, and use this example to demonstrate how offsetting can lead to massive financial inefficiencies and large scale corruption, often produce perverse incentives to pollute and weaken environmental action around the world, and how many of the so called reductions are blatantly false or at best next to impossible to verify. We provide numerous examples to bring the theory to life.

The report recommends that the U.S. establish ambitious climate pollution reduction targets that do not rely on offsets; urge policy makers to reject any plans for new or expanded offset schemes, and finally, recommend that the U.S. support alternative financial mechanisms that will promote sustainable development in poor countries.