Worldwide, almost 300 improved forest management offset projects have generated a total of 28% of forest-based offsets and 11% of all offsets on voluntary registries to date. A new research paper published in Frontiers in Forest and Global Change reveals that the registries are systemically over-crediting these projects, flooding the market with yet more junk offsets.
ACR basically argues that “some media” exaggerated what Haya et al. really wrote:
“ACR welcomes critical and scientifically based evaluations of the carbon market. As a crediting program that supplies credits for use in regulated and voluntary markets, we recognize that there will always be updates that could be made as the most current science develops and market transformations occur. We invite constructive feedback from anyone, including academics, as we continually evolve our program and update our methodologies based on the best available science.
“Unfortunately, in conjunction with the publication of this peer-reviewed journal article, some media reporting materially misrepresented the findings and conclusions of the article. This disparity between nuanced scientific analysis and mainstream media coverage of the carbon market has become commonplace and generally, has not been solutions oriented. We encourage readers to take this type of reporting with a grain of salt and to understand that at ACR we’ve consistently taken time to explain our perspectives and requirements to media inquiries in pursuit of well-informed and balanced media coverage.”
You could "try" to offset your emissions: Look at the year you start your offset scheme, then look at the Keeling Curve record https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/ to see how well you did. You will see no change. Note also, no change after ANY of the COP meetings! Remember, back at the beginning, we were warned that all these carbon schemes are just a gift to financial markets. I would suppose that the financial markets profits curve resembles the slope of the Keeling Curve, meanwhile much ado about nothing. This is not a problem, it's a predicament. A problem is when you can't find your car keys. A predicament is when a wheel falls off and you go over a cliff.
The American Carbon Registry has posted a response on its website:
https://americancarbonregistry.org/news-events/news/the-science-behind-improved-forest-management-approaches-in-the-carbon-market
ACR basically argues that “some media” exaggerated what Haya et al. really wrote:
“ACR welcomes critical and scientifically based evaluations of the carbon market. As a crediting program that supplies credits for use in regulated and voluntary markets, we recognize that there will always be updates that could be made as the most current science develops and market transformations occur. We invite constructive feedback from anyone, including academics, as we continually evolve our program and update our methodologies based on the best available science.
“Unfortunately, in conjunction with the publication of this peer-reviewed journal article, some media reporting materially misrepresented the findings and conclusions of the article. This disparity between nuanced scientific analysis and mainstream media coverage of the carbon market has become commonplace and generally, has not been solutions oriented. We encourage readers to take this type of reporting with a grain of salt and to understand that at ACR we’ve consistently taken time to explain our perspectives and requirements to media inquiries in pursuit of well-informed and balanced media coverage.”
You could "try" to offset your emissions: Look at the year you start your offset scheme, then look at the Keeling Curve record https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/ to see how well you did. You will see no change. Note also, no change after ANY of the COP meetings! Remember, back at the beginning, we were warned that all these carbon schemes are just a gift to financial markets. I would suppose that the financial markets profits curve resembles the slope of the Keeling Curve, meanwhile much ado about nothing. This is not a problem, it's a predicament. A problem is when you can't find your car keys. A predicament is when a wheel falls off and you go over a cliff.