difficult structural and regulatory change necessary to prevent fur-
ther global warming.”
However a report “I Will If You Will – Towards Sustainable Con-
sumption“ from Britain’s National Consumer Council and Sustaina-
ble Development Commission, …. dismisses this, and finds that: “a
positive approach to offsetting could have public resonance well
beyond the CO 2 offset, and would help to build awareness of the
need for other measures.” In other words, carbon offsetting cou-
pled with other sustainable lifestyle choices helps to reduce GHG
emissions.’
Using carbon offsets does not preclude us acting to reduce our carbon
emissions
1.
2.
3.
4.
by reducing our energy usage and carbon emissions,
by taking actions to reduce our consumption of stuff
by actions like replacing gas heating with electric reverse cycle
air conditioning or a heat pump, and
by switching our consumption from consumption of carbon in-
tensive goods and services to consumption of less carbon in-
tensive goods and services e.g. by eating less red meat and
having chicken or vegetarian food instead.
And second, as mentioned above, it is not possible for us overnight to go
carbon neutral, so while we are working hard on one hand to decarbon-
ize the economy, on the other hand we can pay for effective carbon off-
sets which offset the damage to the environment we are continuing to
do.
And one great advantage of carbon offsets is that most types of carbon
offsets are tax deductible, so, if you have a taxable income, buying car-
bon offsets means that the Australian Government is contributing fund-
ing to action on climate change.
Using carbon offsets is not the most important part of going carbon neu-
tral. The most important thing to do, is to act so as to reduce the carbon
emissions we are responsible for now and into the future. But carbon off-
sets have an important role to play in the short and the medium term as
we transition to a net carbon free economy and society.
What’s the point of planting trees to offset carbon emissions if the
trees are burnt in bushfires?
Below a note from Carbon Neutral Charitable Fund (CNCF) about this
issue:
Carbon Action Project
14
1 March 2020