I suspect that it was widely recognized for quite some time that GWWC’s analysis of Cool Earth was outdated enough not to be trustworthy. People donated to Cool Earth anyway because it was the only climate-change charity that we had any particular reason to believe was better than others. This, of course, has changed with the Founders Pledge report, and as such I predict that EA interest in Cool Earth will fade with time.
I looked a little to try to figure out why the criticisms of Cool Earth don’t also apply to the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. It sounds like the primary reason is because CfRN influences nationwide policy, so the loggers can be displaced only to a different country, which is inconvenient enough that most would give up.
The Rainforest Coalition have advocated for measurement of deforestation prevention at the national level which means that you don’t get intra-national displacement. Since all rainforest countries have signed up for REDD (and it is enshrined in the Paris Agreement), you also don’t get international displacement.
Project-based approaches to deforestation as carried out by Cool Earth were rejected for years by the UN as verified CO2 reductions because of the problems outlined in the post, amongst others.
I suspect that it was widely recognized for quite some time that GWWC’s analysis of Cool Earth was outdated enough not to be trustworthy. People donated to Cool Earth anyway because it was the only climate-change charity that we had any particular reason to believe was better than others. This, of course, has changed with the Founders Pledge report, and as such I predict that EA interest in Cool Earth will fade with time.
I looked a little to try to figure out why the criticisms of Cool Earth don’t also apply to the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. It sounds like the primary reason is because CfRN influences nationwide policy, so the loggers can be displaced only to a different country, which is inconvenient enough that most would give up.
The Rainforest Coalition have advocated for measurement of deforestation prevention at the national level which means that you don’t get intra-national displacement. Since all rainforest countries have signed up for REDD (and it is enshrined in the Paris Agreement), you also don’t get international displacement.
Project-based approaches to deforestation as carried out by Cool Earth were rejected for years by the UN as verified CO2 reductions because of the problems outlined in the post, amongst others.