Thanks for the link to the Cool Earth post. I don’t offset for two reasons:
Climate offsets are frequently ineffective, for reasons discussed in the Cool Earth post and, more journalistically, here;
Focussing on policy change to reduce emissions such as a frequent flyer tax or mandating cleaner fuel or better fuel efficiency will have higher impact than focussing on individual carbon footprints, especially as the latter individual focus may take attention away from the systemic changes needed.
While many organisations offering offsets offer quite ineffectual solutions, there are likely to be a small proportion that are highly effective; however, these would take some searching and aren’t obvious unless you do a significant amount of research. At any rate the ones involved from clicking ‘offset this flight’ on the airline’s payment page are likely to be poor value.
Given that there is wide public interest in and desire to contribute to offsetting, it may be that the most effective donations in this area could be to organisations that publicise and/or certify those few schemes that offer and can demonstrate genuinely effective offsetting, to ensure that more money ends up going there. I don’t know of any such organisations though. Or there is the option of donating to organisations that lobby for evidence-based policy change—aviation emissions are significantly more impactful than public perception believes (source).
You’re then into comparing effective climate donations vs effective global development donations at least!
Thanks for the link to the Cool Earth post. I don’t offset for two reasons:
Climate offsets are frequently ineffective, for reasons discussed in the Cool Earth post and, more journalistically, here;
Focussing on policy change to reduce emissions such as a frequent flyer tax or mandating cleaner fuel or better fuel efficiency will have higher impact than focussing on individual carbon footprints, especially as the latter individual focus may take attention away from the systemic changes needed.
While many organisations offering offsets offer quite ineffectual solutions, there are likely to be a small proportion that are highly effective; however, these would take some searching and aren’t obvious unless you do a significant amount of research. At any rate the ones involved from clicking ‘offset this flight’ on the airline’s payment page are likely to be poor value.
Given that there is wide public interest in and desire to contribute to offsetting, it may be that the most effective donations in this area could be to organisations that publicise and/or certify those few schemes that offer and can demonstrate genuinely effective offsetting, to ensure that more money ends up going there. I don’t know of any such organisations though. Or there is the option of donating to organisations that lobby for evidence-based policy change—aviation emissions are significantly more impactful than public perception believes (source).
You’re then into comparing effective climate donations vs effective global development donations at least!