Only a small fraction of the forest-based carbon credits that companies and governments have purchased to offset their greenhouse gas emissions actually help prevent deforestation, according to new research.
that is either removed from the atmosphere by growing trees, or prevented from entering it through avoided deforestation.2accelerates and pressure mounts on corporations and countries to slash emissions, the market for carbon credits has exploded.
As wildfires spread across regions that include forests supporting carbon credit schemes, permanence—a key criterion under UN rules—has also become a concern. "These carbon credits are essentially predicting whether someone will chop down a tree and selling that prediction," he added in a statement."If you exaggerate or get it wrong—intentionally or not—you are selling hot air."
To assess their performance, the researchers identified parallel sites within each region with similar conditions but without forest protection schemes. Of the 89 million carbon credits expected to be generated by all 18 projects in 2020, 60 million would have barely reduced deforestation, if at all, the study found.
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