« GreenNet-APC's Fibre for Africa | Main | Britain using triple its share? »
Do carbon-offset schemes work?
David Prosser of the Independent asks (that is, answers), does carbon-offsetting work?. Basically, he says it's complicated, but a damn sight better than not.
Organizations such as the Carbon Neutral Company and Climate Care allow you to carbon-offset the dioxide generated by your travel by paying a little extra. In the case of a London-New York return flight, the carbon-offset charge would be £11.67. The money generally goes to reforestation, and typically to countries not signed to Kyoto. In March 2006, the Blair government pledged to carbon-offset all travel by civil servants or ministers.
Prosser notes that carbon-offsetting can lead to people traveling more than they should because they feel it's not doing any harm. On the other hand, stopping travel altogether is economically infeasible. The answer seems to be to take longer, less frequent trips, and be sensible with resources if you visit countries where, say, water is in short supply. Feel free to practice that one at home.
April 15, 2006 in Transport & travel | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c5ac253ef00e55069acbd8834
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Do carbon-offset schemes work?:
Comments
At Treeflights.com we actively tell people some of the awkward truths about offset treeplanting. 1. Flying is really hard on the planet -we should do much less of it. 2.If you're offsetting by treeplanting your flight is not suddenly going to become "carbon-neutral"- it may take the tree(s) 80 or 100 years to re-absorb the CO2. 3. Calculations of Co2 production vary from one company to another.
The big carbon-offset companies need to be more honest with the consumer about these issues or they will give offset treeplanting a bad name.
Posted by: Ru Hartwell | 11 Jul 2006 19:09:14
