Otherwise known as carbon credits, these are created by projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere, such as afforestation or DACS (see below). Companies can buy these credits to offset their emissions – in theory, if a company emits 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide and buys 10 tonnes worth of carbon credits, it is carbon neutral.
However, many projects issuing credits today do not remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, for example renewable energy and forest protection. In fact only 5% to 10% of granted offsets in the voluntary market actually remove carbon from the atmosphere. The rest merely ‘avoid’ further emissions.
It’s important to note that even if you could remove as much CO2 as is being emitted, the full suite of damage caused by GHGs cannot be fully countered. The 2021 IPCC AR6 WGI report highlights that some changes, such as sea-level rise and arctic sea ice melt, only reverse after several millennia, even if CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere fall.
For more information, see Carbon offsets and net-zero or Emission cuts are better now than later.
