Joint Statement: Why carbon offsetting undermines climate targets

Types: Letter
Published: 2 July 2024
Size: 179.26 KB

In the past few months, there ahs been a growing push, notably with the public statement of the SBTi Board of Trustees, to allow companies and countries to use carbon credits to offset their emissions. This reflects a bigger trend of bending carbon accounting rules, undermining actual emissions reductions. Climate targets must focus primarily on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions within companies’ and countries’ own boundaries, including the phasing out of fossil fuel production, transport, sale and use. Allowing companies and countries to meet climate commitments with carbon credits is likely to slow down global emission reductions. As such, dozens of organisations come together to call for scientific, ambitious, equitable, robust, credible and transparent rules around carbon accounting and corporate climate target setting.