Government defends carbon offsetting in face of Friends of the Earth report

The environmental group has just published 'A Dangerous Distraction', which claims carbon offsetting is failing to reduce, and in some cases is even increasing, carbon emissions. Friends of the Earth wants the Government to drop all forms of carbon offsetting.

Responding to the report, a spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) defended the Government’s position, saying: “Offsetting has a role to play in cutting emissions and can bring finance and other benefits to developing countries. The central issues are getting the safeguards right, making it as transparent and eventually moving to a more holistic approach to cutting emissions as part of a global carbon market.”

The idea behind carbon offsetting is that you compensate for the carbon emissions created by a particular activity by buying carbon credits in a carbon reduction project, often in a developing country.

The Friends of the Earth report objects to the fact that this allows developed countries to count the carbon reductions in developing countries as their own, even though the science shows that cuts in both developed and developing countries is needed. It also says that many of projects funded would have taken place anyway, so no additional carbon is saved.

The report argues that carbon offsetting is bad for developed countries because it weakens incentives to implement strong climate policies or prevent high-carbon investments. Furthermore, it says carbon offsetting does nothing to encourage developing countries take the low carbon path, often supporting fossil fuel-based projects that actually increase emissions rather than reduce them.

Friends of the Earth wants a commitment from developed countries to cut their carbon emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020 – through what it calls “real change” at home, not by buying offsets from abroad – and earmark new money for developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change and grow their economies using clean technology.


Responding to the specific criticism that the Government’s inclusion of forests in carbon markets is likely to trigger a land grab and leave the forest communities struggling to survive, the DECC spokeperson said: “The UK is seeking a mechanism that recognises the carbon value of forests so that they are worth more standing than felled. It’s the sovereign right of the forest nations to manage the forests and the mechanism would not involve purchase of forest land. There’s more work to do on this and, in the meantime, the UK is at the forefront of securing financing for action now in forest nations."


The spokesperson added: “Offsetting isn’t a wholesale alternative to domestic action. Here in the UK we’re aiming to achieve our legally binding 34 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020 through home-grown effort, with no international credits, outside of the sectors covered by the EU ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme). Even in the EU ETS , at least 50 per cent of emission reductions are required to happen in Europe, and in practice the proportion is likely to be higher.”


Unsurprisingly, the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA), which represents carbon reduction and offset organisations, also rejects Friends of the Earth’s wholesale criticism of carbon offsetting – arguing that a distinction has to be made between carbon offsets used for compliance under government regulation and those sold in the voluntary carbon market.


In a statement ICROA said: “The voluntary market is made up of entities that simply choose to support carbon reduction projects that provide offsets. These organisations have no obligation to take these steps to address climate change. As a result of their voluntary purchases, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced more than is required by law, and more than would be reduced in the absence of the voluntary carbon market. The Friends of the Earth report unfortunately misses this essential point: voluntary offsets are a powerful tool in fighting global warming.”

The release of the Friends of the Earth report marks the launch of environmental group's Demand Climate Change Campaign for “a strong and fair global climate agreement” at the UN talks which resume in Bonn next week and culminate in Copenhagen in December.


Andy Atkins, executive director at Friends of the Earth said: "Western governments are cheating us all by plotting to expand carbon offsetting at the UN climate talks – which means avoiding real action through dodgy accounting instead of taking bold action to tackle the climate crisis.”


He added: “Gordon Brown must push for rich countries to deliver on their historic responsibility to cut their emissions first and fast and pay up for their fair share of global costs to fight climate change."