“More than 90%”
of carbon credits linked to reforestation projects certified by Verra, one of the reference standards for this fast-growing market,
“are worth nothing”
, according to media analysis by
The Guardian
and
Die Zeit
on Wednesday.
Companies can buy carbon credits or certificates to offset their greenhouse gas emissions, for example by financing reforestation projects or protection against deforestation, as trees naturally absorb carbon from the air.
It is even the main method of large companies to claim that they are carbon neutral, while their activity does generate CO2.
“Ghost Credits”
But nearly all of Verra's certificates are
"probably"
" phantom
credits"
and
"do not represent actual emissions reductions
," according to
The Guardian
.
The British daily conducted the investigation with the German newspaper
Die Zeit
and the investigative NGO SourceMaterial based on several scientific publications.
Verra, the world's largest carbon credit certification body, replied on its internet that the studies on which the media relied contained
"massive miscalculations".
The Washington-based NGO adds that the sale of carbon credits has redirected
"billions of dollars"
to
“climate action”
and
“ecosystem protection and restoration”.
To generate a
“carbon credit”
, it is necessary, for example, that a part of tropical forest, threatened by deforestation, is ultimately not felled, for example thanks to fences.
The area of forest thus
“saved”
corresponds to a certain volume of carbon which can continue to be absorbed by the trees.
Companies can then buy credits equivalent to these absorbed volumes of CO2 to cancel their own climate impact, through a simple financial transaction.
Verra and others are supposed to assure companies that the projects they fund by buying carbon credits are real, but questions of methodology have dogged the field since its inception.
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The Guardian
and
Die Zeit
analysis
identified
'evidence of reduced deforestation'
for
only 'only a handful'
of Verra's projects.
In total,
“94% of the credits”
linked to projects in the rainforest
“have no beneficial effect for the climate”
, according to
The Guardian
, which is based in particular on a study by the University of Cambridge.
Verra claims to have
"recently"
reviewed its calculation methods and explains that it is in the process of standardizing its methodology.