I’m not sure that offsetting is better than nothing—it may actually be harmful:
1. Offsetting fools people into thinking that their emissions from (eg) flying can be “made harmless” in some way, whereas the bald physical reality is that for flight emissions, they are the most dangerous emissions, in the most fragile part of the atmosphere (apart from ESAS methane release, and long term impact of HCFCs and HFCs).
2. It’s harmful to help persuade people it’s fine to pollute and pay, rather than actually reduce actual emissions, especially if most offsets don’t genuinely lead to real and lasting net emissions reductions.
3. Offsetting is a way that corporations can make out that they and their customers are somehow not causing net harm ie. off-setting contributes to corporate greenwash, which is a form of lying.
I’m not sure that offsetting is better than nothing—it may actually be harmful:
1. Offsetting fools people into thinking that their emissions from (eg) flying can be “made harmless” in some way, whereas the bald physical reality is that for flight emissions, they are the most dangerous emissions, in the most fragile part of the atmosphere (apart from ESAS methane release, and long term impact of HCFCs and HFCs).
2. It’s harmful to help persuade people it’s fine to pollute and pay, rather than actually reduce actual emissions, especially if most offsets don’t genuinely lead to real and lasting net emissions reductions.
3. Offsetting is a way that corporations can make out that they and their customers are somehow not causing net harm ie. off-setting contributes to corporate greenwash, which is a form of lying.