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Database for Carbon Offset Reporting
This database is a collection of investigative stories about carbon credits. The full reporting guide and short version of the guide are also available.
Scroll left or right to view the full spreadsheet.
| Publication | Headline | Byline | Notes | Subject (usually quoting or paraphrasing the original) | URL | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar-24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| El Surtidor | Paraguay’s carbon deal with Singapore beset by lobbying, lax rules | Maximiliano Manzoni | Spanish and English | English version: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/03/14/paraguay-singapore-deal-beset-by-lobbying-and-lax-rules/ | https://elsurti.com/reportaje/2024/01/18/paraguay-ley-carbono-paracel/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Home News | Fossil fuel firms seek UN carbon market cash for old gas plants | Jo Lo | Fossil fuel companies that built gas power plants more than a decade ago are hoping for rewards from a new carbon credit market | https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/03/07/fossil-fuel-firms-seek-un-carbon-market-cash-for-old-gas-plants/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Inside Climate News | Can Carbon Offsets Save a Fragile Band of Belize’s Tropical Rainforest? | Nicholas Kusnetz | Conservationists are racing to save what’s left of the largest tropical forest in Central America, as commercial farming and population growth threaten to cleave it in two. | https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10032024/belize-tropical-rainforest-deforestation-carbon-offsets/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Feb-24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Conversation | Carbon offsets bring new investment to Appalachia’s coal fields, but most Appalachians aren’t benefiting | Gabe Schwartzman | Gabe Schwartzman | Central Appalachia is home to the third-largest concentration of forest carbon offsets traded on the California carbon market. But while these projects bring new investments to Appalachia, most people in Appalachia are not benefiting. | https://theconversation.com/carbon-offsets-bring-new-investment-to-appalachias-coal-fields-but-most-appalachians-arent-benefiting-217430 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Human Rights Watch | Cambodia: Carbon Offsetting Project Violates Indigenous Group’s Rights | Staff | A major carbon offsetting project in Cambodia shows that such initiatives can harm Indigenous people when communities’ effective participation and consent are not ensured. | https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/28/cambodia-carbon-offsetting-project-violates-indigenous-groups-rights | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Centro Latinoamericano de Investigación Periodística | En un proyecto de bonos de carbono en bosques andinos colombianos todo parece estar bajo la niebla | None given | Spanish | An obscure foundation, in association with the public university of Tolima, records multimillion-dollar sales of carbon credits in exchange for the alleged preservation that they do of a regional park and surrounding forests in the south of Tolima. Peasants who have lived in those territories for three generations, who are supposed beneficiaries of the project, found out about it late and by chance. | https://www.elclip.org/bonos-carbono-bosque-galilea/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| E&E News | Personal net zero? Gas utilities pitch offset plans. | Jeffrey Tomich | The programs aren’t eliminating emissions from natural gas. Instead, they’re tapping into a huge carbon offset market. | https://www.eenews.net/articles/personal-net-zero-gas-utilities-pitch-offset-plans/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Reuters | Can clean cookstoves ride out the carbon markets storm? | Ben Payton | A multi-facted look at the future for clean cookstoves. Clean cooking projects accounted for around 15% of all carbon credits. | https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/can-clean-cookstoves-ride-out-carbon-markets-storm-2024-02-15/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Wire | The Dubious Business of Trading Carbon and Its Stakes For India’s People and Forests | Sushmita | Tribal communities in the Araku Valley of Andhra Pradesh “signed away” their rights to carbon credits through a local NGO intermediary named the Naandi Foundation | https://science.thewire.in/environment/the-dubious-business-of-trading-carbon-and-its-stakes-for-indias-people-and-forests/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Jan-24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Home News | “Shameful”: Shell uses carbon credits under investigation to meet climate targets | Matteo Civillini | The oil and gas giant offset part of its emissions with over a million credits from Chinese projects suspended because of integrity concerns | https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/02/02/shameful-shell-uses-carbon-credits-under-investigation-to-meet-climate-targets/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sifted | Ukraine’s farms get a boost from soil-based carbon credits | Freya Pratty | Soil credits offer farmers diversified income, but do the climate claims stack up? | https://sifted.eu/articles/ukraine-soil-based-carbon-credits | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Home News | Junk offset sellers push to enter new UN carbon market | Matteo Civillini | Renewable energy schemes make up four-fifths of Kyoto-era projects hoping to keep selling offsets under Article 6, sparking concerns over the credibility of the new market. | https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/01/18/junk-offset-sellers-push-to-enter-new-un-carbon-market/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) | Delta Airlines once again bought carbon offsets from a troubled project | None given | Spanish and English | An indigenous reservation in the Colombian Amazon was included in two separate carbon market projects that were approved and have sold credits, in what may have constituted a case of double counting. The promoters of the newer project, which sold credits to the US airline, claim to have made the necessary corrections. However, situations like this undermine the credibility of that market in Colombia. | https://www.elclip.org/delta-airlines-bonos-carbono-proyecto-problemas/?lang=en | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Home News | Witness bribing minister’s family own Congolese carbon credit company | Joe Lo | Family members of a powerful government minister in the Democratic Republic of Congo accused of war crimes have set up a carbon offsets company in the country, sparking fears the company will get favourable government treatment. | https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/01/11/witness-bribing-ministers-family-own-congolese-carbon-credit-company/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Mongabay | Forest carbon credits and the voluntary market: A solution or a distraction? | John Cannon | In-depth backgrounder. First of 5-part series | https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/forest-carbon-credits-and-the-voluntary-market-a-solution-or-a-distraction | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Home News | First ever Paris Agreement offsets face integrity questions | Matteo Civillini | As Switzerland buys the first ever bilateral offsets, civil society’s analysis suggests the claimed emissions reductions from Thai buses would have happened anyway | https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/01/09/first-ever-paris-agreement-offsets-face-integrity-questions/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dec-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| alliancesud and Fastenaktion | New electric buses in Bangkok – no substitute for climate protection in Switzerland | Delia Berner | A detailed study by Alliance Sud and Fastenaktion reveals that the investment in electric buses in Bangkok would have taken place by 2030 even without an offset programme. | https://www.alliancesud.ch/en/new-electric-buses-bangkok-no-substitute-climate-protection-switzerland | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Lever | Internal Doc Reveals Biden’s Troubling Climate Summit Plans | Rishika Pardikar | Government memo suggests the Biden administration is angering allies by undermining strict standards for a new global carbon market. | https://www.levernews.com/internal-doc-reveals-us-troubling-climate-summit-plans/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nov-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Earth Journalism Network, Rainforest Investigation Network and others | It's a Wash | Multiple authors | A series of articles published by many publications. | https://earthjournalism.net/its-a-wash | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Inside Climate News | “Carbon Cowboys” Chasing Emissions Offsets in the Amazon Keep Forest-Dwelling Communities in the Dark | Sam Schramski and Cícero Pedrosa Neto | Indigenous and traditional groups in the forest are rarely consulted about carbon credit projects they see as the latest gold rush on their lands, and question the community and climate benefits the projects promise. | https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28112023/carbon-cowboys-keep-amazon-communities-dark/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Workpointtoday | Unmasking 'Phantom’ Carbon Credits in Thailand: A Genuine Answer to Climate Change or Chimera? | Patchar Duangklad | Thai and English | English version: https://earthjournalism.net/stories/unmasking-phantom-carbon-credits-in-thailand-a-genuine-answer-to-climate-change-or-chimera | https://workpointtoday.com/carboncredits-interactive/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| India Spend | Chopping Down Trees in India, Then Compensating for Them — But At Whose Cost? | Tanvi Deshpande | India's Jharkhand state led the country in reversing deforestation from 2022 to 2023, but cases from two districts show that these supposedly sustainable tree plantations come at a cost to forest rights. | https://www.indiaspend.com/forest-rights/chop-trees-then-compensate-for-them-at-whose-cost-881786 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Source Material | Get Out of Jail Free in the Philippines: How Plastics Offsetting is Giving Industry a License to Pollute | Jess Staufenberg, Tito John A. Burgonio | How plastics offsetting is giving industry a licence to pollute | https://www.source-material.org/plastic-offsetting-philippines-pcx-verra-cement/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Bloomberg | Companies Are Dropping Carbon Offsets, But Still Buying the Worst Ones | Natasha White, Akshat Rathi and Demetrios Pogkas | Purchases of carbon offsets fell for the first time in at least a decade last year, according to an analysis of 260,000 publicly available transactions. (Includes note on methodology.) | https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/companies-are-dropping-carbon-offsets-but-still-buying-the-worst-ones | |||||||||||||||||||||
| SourceMaterial with Le Monde and The Telegraph | Scramble for Africa | None given | Inside carbon offsetting’s megadeal | https://www.source-material.org/dubai-uae-cop28-blue-carbon-offsetting-forest-liberia/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Mongabay | U.N. carbon trading scheme holds promise and peril for tropical forests | Sara Sax | Examines the debate over inclusion of trade forestation credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. | https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/u-n-carbon-trading-scheme-holds-promise-and-peril-for-tropical-forests/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Reuters | Can Brazil’s new carbon market turn tide on decades of exploiting indigenous peoples? | Jennifer Ann Thomas | "As companies and governments race to meet emissions offset targets, Brazil has the potential to be one of the largest global providers of carbon credits. That is, if the country manages to guarantee the integrity of its processes." | https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/can-brazils-new-carbon-market-turn-tide-decades-exploiting-indigenous-peoples-2023-11-22/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Bloomberg Green / Source | New Plastics ‘Offsets’ Point to Next Frontier in Controversial Green Claims | Natasha White | The credits are based on the murky practice of burning plastic waste for fuel. | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-13/why-are-nestle-and-pepsico-claiming-to-be-plastics-neutral | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Guardian | BP and Spotify bought carbon credits at risk of link to forced Uyghur labour in China | Patrick Greenfield, Amy Hawkins and Manisha Ganguly | Credits sourced from carbon project that was centred on biomass power plant in Xinjiang, investigation finds | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/13/carbon-credits-at-risk-of-link-to-uyghur-forced-labour-bought-by-bp-and-spotify | |||||||||||||||||||||
| BBC | Kenya's Ogiek people being evicted for carbon credits - lawyers | Claire Marshall | Kenya's government is illegally evicting hunter-gatherers from their ancestral lands to profit from carbon offsetting schemes, human rights lawyers say. | https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67352067 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Energy Monitor | Are forest-based carbon offsets worth saving? | Nella Canales, Georgia Savvidou | After countless media scandals surrounding the integrity of REDD+ carbon offsets, a new study says enough is enough, it is time to scrap the whole system – but can we afford to start again? | https://www.energymonitor.ai/policy/carbon-markets/are-forest-based-carbon-offsets-worth-saving/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Mongabay | Critical questions remain as carbon credit deal in Sabah presses forward | John Cannon | Details around a secretive “nature conservation agreement” signed in 2021 between a Singaporean company and the government of Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, remain elusive. | https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/critical-questions-remain-as-carbon-credit-deal-in-sabah-presses-forward | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| African Arguments | Doubts grow over who’ll benefit from UAE carbon deal for fifth of Zimbabwe | Cyril Zenda | An early look at a major bilateral deal. | https://africanarguments.org/2023/10/doubts-rise-over-who-benefit-from-uae-firm-deal-for-a-fifth-of-zimbabwe/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Wall Street Journal | He Pioneered Carbon Offsets to Save Tropical Forests. Now the Market Is Collapsing. | Phred Dvorak | Mike Korchinsky used offset credits to funnel millions of dollars to conservation projects. Now he’s fighting a crisis of confidence in the industry. | https://www.wsj.com/science/environment/he-pioneered-carbon-offsets-to-save-tropical-forests-now-the-market-is-collapsing-18a5bc54 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Bloomberg | An Oil Giant Quietly Ditched the World’s Biggest Carbon Capture Plant | Natasha White, Akshat Rathi, and Kevin Crowley | Paywall | An Oil Giant Quietly Ditched the World’s Biggest Carbon Capture Plant | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-10-23/occidental-quietly-ditched-world-s-biggest-carbon-capture-plant.html | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Financial Times | Scandal bares the problems of the Amazon carbon credit market | paywall | https://www.ft.com/content/4cb93468-d9bd-4dbc-84bc-77e2b3739a7a | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| The New Yorker | The Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle | Heidi Blake | Offsetting has been hailed as a fix for runaway emissions and climate change—but the market’s largest firm sold millions of credits for carbon reductions that weren’t real. | https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/23/the-great-cash-for-carbon-hustle | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Home News and Unearthed | Exposed: carbon offsets linked to high forest loss still on sale | Matteo Civillini | Project owners in Cambodia and Brazil are selling carbon offsets to Uber, Marathon and ArcelorMittal despite an uptick in deforestation | https://www.climatechangenews.com/2023/10/05/exposed-carbon-offsets-linked-to-high-forest-loss-still-on-sale/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Down to Earth | Investigation: Indian voluntary carbon market may not benefit people, climate | Sunita Narain, Rohini Krishnamurthy, Trishant Dev, Avantika Goswami | A probe with the Centre for Science and Environment (DTE-CSE) into the carbon market and offsetting projects in 40 locations across India | https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/climate-change/investigation-indian-voluntary-carbon-market-may-not-benefit-people-climate-92156 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sep-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon Brief | Analysis: How some of the world’s largest companies rely on carbon offsets to ‘reach net-zero’ | Josh Gabbatiss | Majority of offset projects that have sold the most carbon credits are ‘likely junk’, according to analysis by Corporate Accountability and the Guardian | https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/carbon-offsets-2023/companies.html | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Guardian and Corporate Accountability | Revealed: top carbon offset projects may not cut planet-heating emissions | Nina Lakhani | The team compared project filings with data developed by the University of Maryland and made available on the Global Forest Watch online platform. A second source of satellite data, Forobs, developed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, was used to check the findings. This showed a similar trend. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/19/do-carbon-credit-reduce-emissions-greenhouse-gases | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Aug-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vox | Are carbon offsets all they’re cracked up to be? We tracked one from Kenya to England to find out. | Angus Chapman and Desné Masie | We set out to follow the journey of a carbon credit purchased from the buzzy startup Ecologi by Al Dix, a retiree from Yorkshire, England, who wants to take practical climate action. | https://www.vox.com/23817575/carbon-offsets-credits-financialization-ecologi-solutions-scam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Home News | Cooking the books: cookstove offsets produce millions of fake emission cuts | Matteo Civillini | Projects in India linked to Enking, the self-proclaimed world’s largest carbon credits producer, have vastly overestimated climate benefits | https://climatechangenews.com/2023/08/25/cookstove-offsets-carbon-emissions-credits-india-enking/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Mongabay | Massive carbon offset deal with Dubai-based firm draws fire in Liberia | Ashoka Mukpo | Reporting on a leaked draft of a proposed deal between Liberia and a United Arab Emirates-based firm. | https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/massive-carbon-offset-deal-with-dubai-based-firm-draws-fire-in-liberia/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Oregon Public Broadcasting | A giant Oregon wildfire shows the limits of carbon offsets in fighting climate change | Hal Bernton | To help counter their greenhouse gas pollution, Microsoft and other companies invested millions in a project to store more carbon in Southern Oregon trees. The 2021 Bootleg Fire upended that plan. | https://www.opb.org/article/2023/08/02/climate-change-carbon-offset-oregon/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Jul-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wall Street Journal | Rebuilding Trust in Carbon Offsets Faces Uphill Battle | Dieter Holger | Around 95% of buyers today don’t meet new standards on carbon offsets | https://www.wsj.com/articles/rebuilding-trust-in-carbon-offsets-faces-uphill-battle-d7811603 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| SourceMaterial | Revolt of the South Pole penguins | Team | Our investigation, in partnership with Dutch investigative journalism platform Follow The Money and Swiss newspaper NZZ, uncovers secretive deals with oil giants and authoritarian governments | https://www.source-material.org/south-pole-offsetting-deals-worker-dissent-fossil-fuel-deal/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Jun-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and others | A Reservation Sold Carbon Credits and Its Inhabitants Didn't Know | Andrés Bermúdez Liévano | Spanish and English | A carbon project began selling credits hailing from the indigenous reservation of Cumbal, in the paramos of southern Colombia, despite the fact that most of its inhabitants weren’t even aware of its existence. | https://www.lasillavacia.com/historias/silla-nacional/a-reservation-sold-carbon-credits-and-its-inhabitant-didnt-know/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bloomberg | BP Paid Rural Mexicans a “Pittance” for Wall Street's Favorite Climate Solution | Max De Haldevang | Paywall | As part of its net zero plans, BP invested in a community project in Mexico aimed at protecting a dwindling forest through the sale of carbon credits. Only thing is that the community members had no idea how much carbon credits sell on the market and, at the time the credits were put up for sale, the market was in a slump. | https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2022-carbon-offset-credits-mexico-forest-bp/#xj4y7vzkg | ||||||||||||||||||||
| May-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reuters | Factbox: Debt-for-nature swaps swell in climate finance response | A survey of deals in lower-income countries. | https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/debt-for-nature-swaps-swell-climate-finance-response-2023-05-10/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apr-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mongabay | Questions over accounting and inclusion mar Guyana’s unprecedented carbon scheme | Dimitri Selibas | Explores a forestry deal between Guyana and the Hess Corporation | https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/questions-over-accounting-and-inclusion-mar-guyanas-unprecedented-carbon-scheme/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Change News | Verra’s revamped forest offset programme comes under fire | Verra picked a controversial carbon credit verifier to review its new forest offset rules and critics say the changes don’t fix the problem | https://www.climatechangenews.com/2023/05/04/verras-revamped-forest-offset-programme-comes-under-fire/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ICIJ | How we used data to expose flaws in hundreds of green claims by forest products companies | Emilia Díaz-Struck, Delphine Reuter, Jelena Cosic, Miguel Fiandor Gutiérrez, Agustin Armendariz, Karrie Kehoe, Margot Williams and Scilla Alecci | How hundreds of companies worldwide use audits and certification programs that stamp their forestry products as sustainable, despite being denounced by governments and environmental groups for a wide range of destructive practices. | https://www.icij.org/investigations/deforestation-inc/how-we-used-data-to-expose-flaws-in-hundreds-of-green-claims-by-forest-products-companies/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Mar-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and others | Two indigenous communities excluded from a carbon project in their territory | Andrés Bermúdez Liévano | Some carbon credit projects promoted by an alliance of four companies in the Monochoa indigenous reservation excluded two communities from the six that worked together for years to preserve their territory in the Amazon. | https://www.elclip.org/indigenas-monochoa-exclusion-bonos-carbono/?lang=es | |||||||||||||||||||||
| AP | ‘Gone wrong’: Doubts on carbon-credit program in Peru forest | Ed Davey | An analysis by independent experts and reporting by The Associated Press raises doubts about a project in Peru. Smong other things, the tree loss more than doubled, according to satellite analysis. | https://apnews.com/article/peru-cordillera-azul-carbon-credits-deforestation-d02b39c4f90896c29319f31afef11b2d | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Home News | Revealed: How Shell cashed in on dubious carbon offsets from Chinese rice paddies | Matteo Civillini | Shell’s rice farming offset projects are under review. Climate Home found them riddled with accounting loopholes and questionable integrity claims. | https://climatechangenews.com/2023/03/28/revealed-how-shell-cashed-in-on-dubious-carbon-offsets-from-chinese-rice-paddies/?utm_source=Climate+Weekly&utm_campaign=807fd4396c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_03_17_02_41_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-c6fac50c14-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Survival Interrnational | Blood Carbon: how a carbon offset scheme makes millions from Indigenous land in Northern Kenya | Simon Counsell | A carbon offset scheme on Indigenous land in northern Kenya raises major questions about the credibility of the project's claims, as well as about the potential impact on the rights and livelihoods of the Indigenous pastoralist peoples to whom this land is home. | https://www.survivalinternational.org/articles/carbon-offset-scheme-makes-millions-from-Indigenous-land-Northern-Kenya | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Mongabay | Carbon credits from award-winning Kenyan offset suspended by Verra | Ashoka Mukpo | Carbon offset certifier Verra has suspended issuance of credits from an award-winning project in Kenya, Mongabay has learned, after serious questions were raised about its validation and methodology. | https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/carbon-credits-from-award-winning-kenyan-offset-suspended-by-verra/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Follow the Money | The world’s largest carbon trader is wrestling with painful facts about its business model | Bart Crezee, Ties Gijzel | South Pole, the Swiss climate consultancy and carbon trader, is experiencing rough seas after Follow the Money revealed that for a long time the company sold carbon credits which were nearly worthless. | https://www.ftm.eu/articles/ceo-south-pole-is-painful-facts? | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Thompson Reuters Foundation | INVESTIGATION-In Brazil's Amazon, disputed carbon credit project feeds land-grabbing fears | Andre Cabette Fabio | A corporate conservation project in Brazil's Amazon rainforest has sold carbon credits from publicly owned land without state authorization, a Context investigation has found, highlighting concerns about the credibility of offsets from areas with disputed land ownership. | https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL8N34C5GA/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Feb-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clean Energy Wire | Corporate run on carbon credits triggers offset gold rush in Mexico's forests | Emilio Goday | Mexico is experiencing a carbon offset gold rush... Countless companies invest in carbon offsets based on forest projects, but the climate benefits of this strategy are highly questionable, and the compensation boom often fails to bring about the expected benefits to local communities. | https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/corporate-run-carbon-credits-triggers-offset-gold-rush-mexicos-forests | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon Market Watch | Climate profiteering: Are intermediaries exploiting carbon markets for their own ends | Gilles Dufrasne | Despite the role voluntary carbon markets are meant to play in financing climate action, the exact amount of money reaching climate projects and local communities is shrouded in mystery, while nine out of 10 intermediaries do not disclose their fees or profit margins, a new study commissioned by Carbon Market Watch reveals. | https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2023/02/02/climate-profiteering-are-intermediaries-exploiting-carbon-markets-for-their-own-ends/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Jan-23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Guardian | Revealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest certifier are worthless, analysis shows | Patrick Greenfield | Investigation into Verra carbon standard finds most are ‘phantom credits’ and may worsen global heating | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/18/revealed-forest-carbon-offsets-biggest-provider-worthless-verra-aoe | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Der Zeit | Phantom Offsets and Carbon Deceit | Von Tin Fischer und Hannah Knuth | Companies around the world rely on credits to offset their CO₂ emissions. They have relied for years on carbon credits that prevent far fewer emissions than promised. The story of a global scandal. | https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2023-01/co2-certificates-fraud-emissions-trading-climate-protection-english?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Guardian | The ‘carbon pirates’ preying on Amazon’s Indigenous communities | Patrick Greenfield | Selling credits should fund forest protection, but unscrupulous firms are making deals where land stewards lose out, say local leaders | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/21/amazon-indigenous-communities-carbon-offsetting-pirates-aoe | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and others | Grey Carbon | Multiple authors | Spanish | A collection of 11 articles about carbon credit projects. "... in many cases they are not working as they should, so what was intended as a solution has become a problem." | https://www.elclip.org/carbono-gris/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and others | The sanctioned politician negotiating carbon credits in the Amazon | Andrés Bermúdez | Spanish and English | Oxigreen, which is one of the many companies that travel through the Colombian Amazon promoting carbon projects with indigenous communities, is designing one with the Nonuya de Villazul reservation in the middle Caquetá River. This management is signed by a politician sanctioned for administrative mismanagement in Casanare and disqualified from holding public office and contracting with the State. | https://www.elclip.org/politico-bonos-de-carbono-amazonia-colombia/?lang=es | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Follow the Money | Showcase project by the world’s biggest carbon trader actually resulted in more carbon emissions | Bart Crezee, Ties Gijzel | For years, South Pole – the world’s most influential climate consultancy – sold essentially concocted emission rights to hundreds of companies, including Gucci, Volkswagen and energy supplier Greenchoice. As a result, part of the climate achievements of many prestigious companies exist only on paper. | https://www.ftm.eu/articles/south-pole-kariba-carbon-emission?share=odrcrEemeMFRZbDEqw8AMKNpEeDnTxHwXlEOsBqSmVU85v1ds98QYMq%2B4sv1P3w%3D | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Guardian | ‘Nowhere else to go’: forest communities of Alto Mayo, Peru, at centre of offsetting row | Patrick Greenfield | The Guardian visits the Peruvian Amazon as part of a continuing investigation into forest-based carbon offsetting | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/18/forest-communities-alto-mayo-peru-carbon-offsetting-aoe | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dec-22 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AP | In Peru, Kichwa tribe wants compensation for carbon credits | Ed Davey | A detailed look at the impact of carbon credits in a national park. | https://apnews.com/article/business-peru-forests-climate-and-environment-2c6cddb1707a12c31c14d9a226699068 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nov-22 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and others | Colombia designed safeguards for carbon projects - and then dropped them | Andrés Bermúdez Liévano | Spanish and English | Colombia's safeguards to ensure that carbon projects respect the rights of communities who protect forests have remained on paper. Authorities do not require investors developing carbon credits to respect the safeguards or help ethnic communities in negotiations with private companies. | https://www.elclip.org/salvaguardas-proyectos-carbono-colombia-indigenas/?lang=en | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bloomberg | Junk carbon offsets are what make these big companies ‘carbon neutral’ | Akshat Rathi, Natasha White and Demetrios Pogkas | Paywall | https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-carbon-offsets-renewable-energy/#xj4y7vzkg | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Bloomberg | How the 2022 World Cup Rebuilt a Market for Dodgy Carbon Credits | Natasha White, and Verity Ratcliffe | Paywall | How organizers of the World Cup in Qatar attempted to compensate for that event’s enormous carbon footprint through a dodgy Doha-based certification body that would sign off on projects that fail to meet minimum standards anywhere else in the world. | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-17/how-the-2022-world-cup-rebuilt-a-market-for-renewable-energy-carbon-offsets#xj4y7vzkg | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bloomberg | A 10,000% Indian Stock Rally Plunges on Shaky Green Claims | Kai Schultz, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Sheryl Tian Tong Lee, and Ashutosh Joshi | Paywall | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-11-16/eki-energy-india-s-best-performing-stock-is-tied-to-price-of-carbon-credits#xj4y7vzkg | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct-22 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Premium Times | INVESTIGATION: How Nigeria’s N400 million green bond-financed afforestation projects failed | Abdulkareem Mojeed | Less than five years after the implementation of the core afforestation projects, an investigation finds that the projects suffered a major setback because they were poorly implemented. | https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/556973-investigation-how-nigerias-n400-million-green-bond-financed-afforestation-projects-failed.html | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and others | The Yuruparí Jaguars' Territory Divided By A Carbon Credit Project | Andrés Bermúdez Liévano | Spanish and English | The story behind a lawsuit brought by indigenous leaders to invalidate a carbon credit project in their territory in the Amazon claiming that the person who signed it on their behalf was no longer authorized to do so. | https://www.lasillavacia.com/historias/silla-nacional/the-yurupari-jaguars-territory-divided-by-a-carbon-credit-project/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Wall Street Journal | Companies Are Buying Large Numbers of Carbon Offsets That Don’t Cut Emissions | Shane Shifflett | Paywall | With the boom in renewable energy, many of the credits that trade hands merely represent a transfer of money from one profitable enterprise to another, critics say | https://www.wsj.com/articles/renewables-carbon-credits-do-not-cut-emissions-united-nations-verra-gold-standard-11662644900 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Aug-22 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CBS News | Western wildfires threaten carbon offsets | Ben Tracy | As companies and individuals attempt to shrink their carbon footprints by buying carbon offsets, wildfires in the U.S. West are threatening the land set aside for such efforts. | https://www.cbsnews.com/video/western-wildfires-threaten-carbon-offsets/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| CLIP, Mongabay Latam, and La Silla Vacía | Lo que dicen los contratos de bonos de carbono que dividen a comunidades indígenas de Vaupés | Rutas del Conflicto CLIP, Mongabay Latam Mongabay Latam, La Liga Contra el Silencio | Spanish | Negotiations over carbon credit contracts created tensions within Indigenous communities. | https://www.elclip.org/lo-que-dicen-los-contratos-de-bonos-de-carbono-que-dividen-a-comunidades-indigenas-de-vaupes/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Jun-22 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GreenPeace Unearthed | How middlemen carbon brokers take a cut from money meant to help offset emissions | Luke Barratt and Joe Sandler Clarke | The investigation found brokers buying carbon credits from forestry projects in poorer countries and selling them on to consumers and companies, including airlines and oil firms, at inflated prices. | https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2022/05/02/carbon-offsetting-market-climate/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nikkei | 'Ghost' carbon credits still alive despite end of forest project | Mari Ishibashi | Carbon credits issued for a forest project in Belize are still registered as being active even after CO2 reduction efforts in the area have ended, a Nikkei investigation has found. | https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Climate-Change/Ghost-carbon-credits-still-alive-despite-end-of-forest-project | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Home News | Data exclusive: The ‘junk’ carbon offsets revived by the Glasgow Pact | Chloé Farand, Maribel Ángel-Moreno, Léopold Salzenstein and Jelena Malkowski | Analysis for Climate Home identifies hundreds of problematic projects that could be used to greenwash national and corporate climate plan. | https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/06/17/data-exclusive-the-junk-carbon-offsets-revived-by-the-glasgow-pact/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Jan-22 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Change News | Crypto bubble: The hype machine behind a $70,000 carbon credit | Chloé Farand | UK-based cryptocurrency venture Save Planet Earth has convinced investors it can make them rich and fix the climate, but its tree-planting vision is a long way from reality | https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/01/28/crypto-bubble-hype-machine-behind-70000-carbon-credit/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nov-21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CLIP, Mongabay Latam, and La Silla Vacía | In addition to carbon credits, Colombia's largest project might be selling hot air | Andrés Bermúdez Liévano | Spanish and English | Based on Carbon Watch report: gilles.dufrasne@carbonmarketwatch.org | https://www.elclip.org/el-mayor-proyecto-de-bonos-de-carbono-de-colombia-podria-estar-vendiendo-aire-caliente/?lang=en | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Jun-21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon Market Watch | Two Shades of Green: How hot air forest credits are being used to avoid carbon taxes in Colombia | Gilles Dufrasne | The Colombian government adopted a carbon tax of approximately US$5/tCO2e covering fossil fuels in 2016. Companies can avoid paying the tax by purchasing carbon offsets from projects inside Colombia. This has boosted the Colombian carbon market, which includes projects aiming to lower deforestation, so-called “REDD+” projects. | https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/two-shades-of-green-how-hot-air-forest-credits-are-being-used-to-avoid-carbon-taxes-in-colombia/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| May-21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Guardian | Carbon offsets used by major airlines based on flawed system, warn experts | Patrick Greenfield | The forest protection carbon offsetting market used by major airlines for claims of carbon-neutral flying faces a significant credibility problem, with experts warning the system is not fit for purpose, an investigation has found. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/04/carbon-offsets-used-by-major-airlines-based-on-flawed-system-warn-experts | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022: Date Uncertain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bloomberg Green | “Exploiting Carbon Offsets” | Max De Haldevang, Akshat Rathi, Natasha White, Demetrios Pogkas, Verity Ratcliffe, Ben Elgin and Sinduja Rangarajan | series of stories - paywall | The reporters analyzed more than 200,000 transactions to show how dozens of companies are using questionable accounting to claim “carbon neutral” status. | https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-carbon-offsets-renewable-energy/#xj4y7vzkg |
Reporter’s Guide to Investigating Carbon Offsets
Reporter’s Guide to Investigating Carbon Offsets — Short Version
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