Unfortunately, some CO2 offsets plans do more harm than good. In 2013 The Atlantic detailed rampant fraud in a UN carbon offset scheme claiming to curb CO2 emissions from deforestation.
July 21, 2017, "Clinton Campaign Never Bought 'Carbon Offsets' to atone for Hillary's Private Jet Rides," Climate Change Dispatch, Michael Bastasch
"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to have broken her
promise to run a carbon neutral campaign by purchasing credits to offset
all the carbon dioxide emitted from her private jet travel.
The
Clinton campaign promised nearly two years ago to go carbon neutral
after the former top diplomat was caught flying a private jet the same
day she gave a speech on the dangers of man-made global warming.
That promise remains unkept, a Daily Caller News Foundation review of federal election filings found.
Clinton aides said
“offsetting our carbon footprint is still an important goal for this
campaign,” but media reports from late 2015 and early 2016 found the
Clinton campaign had not offset their carbon dioxide emissions.
Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign bought carbon offsets from
Native Energy, but the company said Clinton did not buy any offsets from
them during the 2016 campaign.
“The Clinton 2016 campaign did not purchase offsets from us,” Native Energy spokesman Tom Stoddard told The DCNF.
The Clinton campaign, however, did manage to spend more than $900,000
with the private jet chartering company Executive Fliteways in 2015.
About $560,000 of that private jet spending came after Clinton pledged
to buy carbon offsets.
Clinton’s campaign spent more than $266,000 with Executive Fliteways in 2016, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
The campaign promised to offset their emissions after The Daily Mail
obtained video of Clinton boarding a private jet just hours after
announcing her plans to tackle global warming and cut U.S. carbon
dioxide emissions.
Clinton boarded a “Dassault model Falcon 900B” that “burns 347 gallons of fuel per hour,” The Daily Mail reported in July 2015. Conservative America Rising PAC captured video.
America Rising is still keeping track of the days since Clinton made
her offset promise. As of Thursday, it’s been more than 724 days since
the promise, and no offsets have been bought, according to America
Rising’s website.
Carbon offsets are basically credits companies or individuals can buy
to theoretically negate the emissions created by their everyday
activities. Offsets come from investments in green energy or can come
from planting trees.
Many corporations, like Google, and prominent environmental groups
buy carbon credits, but critics have argued carbon offset programs can
be rife with accountability problems.
A 2015 report by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) found many offsets being sold to comply with the Kyoto Protocol ended up increasing emissions by 600 million metric tons.
The Atlantic detailed in 2013 the rampant fraud in another UN carbon offset scheme meant to curb CO2 emissions from deforestation.
The Atlantic reported “many projects that don’t meet the UN’s
environmental requirements end up eventually being sold on the voluntary
carbon market” and other “projects offer carbon credits that are
inflated in number based on misleading methodologies, do not exist on
anything but paper…may serve as a front for other illicit activities.”
The DCNF attempted to reach out to Jennifer Palmieri, director of
communication for the Clinton presidential campaign, but did not receive
comment."
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