Report
Finance Watch joined forces with more than 80 civil society organizations to warn that a reliance on carbon credits will likely “slow down global emission reductions.” and call on global companies and governments to exclude the use of carbon credit in the tracking of their progress on the path to carbon neutrality.
The statement follows a recent controversial public statement from the climate-certification organisation Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
Recent months have seen a growing push to allow companies and countries to use carbon credits to offset their greenhouse gas emissions, reflecting a bigger trend of bending carbon accounting rules, undermining actual emissions reductions.
In this joint statement, over 80 organizations, including Finance Watch, express concern that allowing companies and countries to meet climate commitments with carbon credits is likely to slow down a rapid and equitable phase out of fossil fuel production and use, while failing to deliver on climate finance needs, and will reduce pressure to develop mechanisms such as “polluter pays” fees on emission-intensive sectors.
The statement calls for scientific, ambitious, equitable, robust, credible and transparent rules around carbon accounting and corporate climate target setting. Voluntary and regulatory frameworks on climate transition planning must exclude offsetting.
