In their quest to become net zero, many companies purchase carbon offsets as an alternative to phasing out fossil fuel use. Offsets can come from renewables, like wind and solar, or increasingly from natural climate solutions, like forested lands. Forest carbon offsets allow landowners to monetize the carbon being stored by their trees and soils and sell it on the carbon market, where there is high demand.
Over the past decade, forest carbon offsets have emerged as one of the fastest growing finance tools to incentivize forest conservation. Environmental groups, land trusts, and municipalities are involved in deals that sell forest carbon to buyers, including major corporations like Disney, JP Morgan Chase, Delta, and Google.
The Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies will host a virtual Cary Science Conversation with Cary Institute President Joshua Ginsberg on the limitations of forest carbon offsets on Thursday, November 11th.
This event will feature forest ecologist Charles Canham, a distinguished senior scientist emeritus at Cary Institute who has deep concerns about the true climate benefits of the current forest carbon offset market.
Canham will discuss fundamental flaws in how forest carbon offsets are awarded, the folly of granting offsets to already protected lands, and ecological limits on how much carbon US forests can sequester. He will also explore how ‘leakage’ can shift forest harvests to vulnerable locations, and the ethics of allowing industries to purchase credits from faraway forests to continue polluting locally.
This event is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 pm and includes time for audience Q&A. Registration is required and can be completed online.
Photo of Joshua Ginsberg provided.
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