Carbon credits are no substitute for cutting carbon

[HARRIS, Paul [SSC]]

​

Dear GEP-Ed Colleagues,

From time to time one comes across an article that really needs to be read. I think the article linked below is one of those. It takes a critical look at widespread attempts to create carbon offsets through forest preservation. The article is especially important (and germane) because academics, including those specializing in environment and sustainability, and their students are among those who seem to most actively support such projects -- to offset behaviors that they don't want to change (such as flying to holiday destinations -- or to academic conferences). The article is especially interesting to me because it gives some examples of how environmental scholars are among those the least willing to admit reality. Oh, and the article has some great pictures and artwork. It would be perfect for courses on global environmental politics and the like. Have a read...

Why Carbon Credits for Forest Preservation May Be Worse than Nothing

There is a global appetite for programs that sell carbon offsets to allow people and companies an alternative to actually reducing fossil fuel use. But this hunger may have blinded some advocates of the programs to a mounting pile of evidence that they haven't deliver the climate benefit they promise.

https://features.propublica.org/brazil-carbon-offsets/inconvenient-truth-carbon-credits-dont-work-deforestation-redd-acre-cambodia/

(Apologies if you have seen this article already.)

Kind regards,

Paul

PAUL G. HARRIS

Chair Professor

Global and Environmental Studies

EdUHK

www.paulgharris.net

LATEST BOOKS

+Climate Change and Ocean Governance (Cambridge University Press), here.

+Global Ethics and Climate Change, 2nd. ed. (Edinburgh University Press), here.

+Ethics, Environmental Justice and Climate Change (Edward Elgar), here.

+Routledge Handbook of Global Environmental Politics (updated paperback edition), here.

+More books here. 

LATEST JOURNAL ARTICLES

+“Emerging Responses to Global Climate Change: Ecosystem-based Adaptation,” Global Change, Peace and Security, here.

+“Cascading Biases Against Poorer Countries,” Nature Climate Change, here.

+“Compliance with Climate Change Agreements: The Constraints of Consumption,” International Environmental Agreements, here.

+“Political Science and Severe Climate Change: A Case for Transformational Research into Adaptation,” St. Antony's International Review, here.

+More articles here. 

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