Beyond Offsets: People and Planet-Centred Responses to the Climate and Biodiversity Crisis

Although the logical flaws in carbon offsetting have been known for decades, offset companies around the world have kept pushing them and have kept making money. Meanwhile, emissions keep going up. Recent years have seen the constant widespread criticism reach fever pitch with study after study showing that offsets do more harm than good.

But what else can be done?

Fern, Forest Peoples Programme and Rainforest Foundation UK hired David Young to answer that question by setting out alternatives to flawed voluntary carbon markets.

The resulting report "Beyond Offsets: People and Planet-Centred Responses to the Climate and Biodiversity Crisis" explores non-market approaches (NMAs) to addressing the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, with a particular focus on the protection of forests and the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Peer reviewed by environmental and Indigenous experts, the report disputes the often-repeated claim that only offsets can generate the scale of funding needed to protect forests, highlighting huge untapped sources including progressive taxation, philanthropic support and private sector engagement.

It critically assesses the relative merit of each approach against a core set of principles, such as international human rights and environmental law, good governance norms, transparency, mutual accountability and environmental justice.

The publication ends with a series of recommendations for civil society organisations, Indigenous Peoples and community groups, policymakers and the private sector, urging them to adopt and advocate for finance and support that strengthens self-determination, reaches communities more directly, and is predictable and sustained over long timeframes.

Categorias: Reports, Carbon offsetting, Carbon trading