A critical role for carbon offsets

摘要

In an interview in Nature Climate Change, Professor Kevin Anderson of the UK Tyndall Centre argued that "offsetting is worse than doing nothing". This assertion should be qualified on some critical fronts.There is good reason to be sceptical of offsets. The largest source of certified emission reductions issued through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has been the destruction of industrial gases, the majority of registered projects are located in four countries (China, India, Brazil and Mexico), and the sustainable development benefits of many CDM projects have been questioned. The increase in global greenhouse-gas emissions in 2010 was the largest on record. Carbon offsets are not yet reducing emissions in any meaningful terms, and the main offset policy mechanism — the CDM — is failing to achieve broad sustainable-development outcomes.