Local Carbon Offsets : Carbon offsetting is facing a pivotal moment, with many of the schemes attached to the ‘voluntary’ offsets market being shown to offer limited benefits and regulation.

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Why do UK based corporations and institutions spend millions on carbon offsets in overseas projects that can sometimes do more harm than good?

Local Government should make a play for this funding and use it to deliver large scale retrofit programmes, air quality measures to improve public health, net zero training and community based environmental projects. Localising the funding and impact will produce better oversight and governance and help engineer behavioural change from businesses, government and residents.

The two best things about this approach are that 1.) the infrastructure to do this often already exists as Councils have set up Carbon Offset Funds to redistribute development contributions, and 2.) corporations and institutions have already got the funds allocated within their existing budgets. They would just need to have the confidence to transfer from a broken system mired in bad press, to an alternative that could see them support the communities in which they do their business enabling a new, collaborative and localised response to the climate crisis.

If local government can make the case for investment for funds currently flowing through the voluntary carbon offset market it would put a rocket under Councils’ ability to deliver their own Net Zero commitments.