Carbon offset setback risks corporate backtrack on climate goals

13/8/2024 19:29

        Stalled efforts to expand companies' use of carbon credits to offset greenhouse-gas emissions are raising the prospect that some will backtrack or
        abandon targets to shrink their carbon footprint.
        
        Since 2015, when governments agreed in Paris to try to keep the world from warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), more than half of the world's largest 2,000 publicly listed companies have announced targets to cut their emissions to zero on a net basis by 2050.
        
        But environmental advocates are expressing concerns that companies are falling behind on those targets. Companies are in turn complaining that clean technologies are not being rolled out on time and that government policies are not doing enough to support the transition away from fossil fuels.
        
        Proponents of carbon offsets argue they can help companies meet their targets when efforts to slash their emissions fall short. Companies buy the offsets, which are generated by projects that absorb carbon or reduce emissions, such as reforestation and switches to cleaner fuels for domestic cookstoves.