Greenpeace, Amnesty International, ActionAid, Global Witness, Articulacao dos Povos Indigenas do Brasil (APIB), and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) have jointly criticised carbon offsetting as a distraction or scam that fuels land grabs for tree planting in developing countries, imperilling indigenous communities.
The coalition has called on governments to raise their ambitions and set “real” zero-carbon emissions targets.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world must reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in order to keep global temperature rises to within 1.5°C; this is critical for protecting small island nations and averting the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Although most nations – and many businesses and local authorities – have made some commitment to reaching net-zero CO2 by 2050, many plans rely on carbon offsetting and nascent carbon capture and storage technology that remains unproven on a large...