The Truth About Carbon Offsetting

Transcript

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Dreaming of a vacation

across the world?

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Tahiti?

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Why not Fiji?

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Hard to do without flying

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or the feeling of guilt

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about the CO2 pollution.

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This could be the answer.

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Dozens of websites offer you

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the chance to offset

your carbon emissions

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for a fee.

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The Swiss leader in carbon-offsets

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is the Myclimate Foundation.

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Here in Zurich, are

some of its 80 employees.

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The business is expanding rapidly.

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This year, from January to May,

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nearly four times as many people

offset their emissions

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as in 2018.

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It is a rapid increase.

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Carbon offsetting is a green action

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with targeted marketing.

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Carbon offsetting is simple.

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On our website, you can calculate

your emissions for a flight,

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but also for your home,

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or for a car trip.

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Then it gives you the CO2 emissions

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and the amount needed

to offset them.

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With this money,

projects are financed,

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especially in developing countries,

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where emissions are also offset.

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There are dozens of projects.

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The classic:

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tree planting here in Nicaragua.

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But also replacing

polluting stoves in Africa,

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or building wind turbines in Turkey.

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The principle is simple:

You remove a source of pollution

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and replace it

with a more efficient one.

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Tons of CO2 eliminated,

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validated

by carbon-offset certificates.

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In theory, it's great.

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We ran tests

and carried out the survey.

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To begin with,

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we calculate our carbon

emissions at the Myclimate site.

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During this report,

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we will use cars, trains and planes.

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Calculation result: 1.1 tons of CO2.

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To offset that you must

buy 38 francs (40 USD)

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worth of

carbon certificates,

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and the pollution

should disappear...

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It remains to be seen

if these projects are working.

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We're going to Turkey.

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Myclimate offers wind energy

carbon certificates near Izmir,

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in western Turkey,

on the Mediterranean coast.

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Once there, it is a paradise

for sustainable development.

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Wind turbines everywhere,

like in the ads.

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At the local economic development

office, they are proud.

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First surprise:

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no one talks about carbon offsets

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to explain this success.

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It is therefore massive support from

the Turkish government

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and the absence of

taxes that explain

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wind energy development

in the area.

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A conclusion shared

by this professor

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from the University

of Izmir.

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Second surprise:

when carbon offsets are used,

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they pay for documentation

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-So it's not important

for development?

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Today, no.

Not in Izmir, not in Turkey.

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What is the use

of these carbon offsets?

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We go to the foot

of the wind turbines to find out.

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These projects are not carried out

directly by MyClimate.

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It is private electricity companies

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who built the turbines.

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Companies often

owned by billionaires.

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Here it is Murat Vargõ's

Kores company

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one of the richest men in Turkey.

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The money from the carbon offsets

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is given: no interest, no refunds.

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After paying the consultants,

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the billionaire reduces his costs

and maximizes his profits.

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-You have wind turbines in Turkey,

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with billionaires

behind the project.

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Is this really an

offsetting project?

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When we started supporting

these projects

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a long time ago, it made sense,

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because they were

the first wind energy

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projects in Turkey.

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We still have a small volume of the

project's emissions reductions

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we can still sell.

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Old projects or not,

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currently, Myclimate still offers

three wind energy projects

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to its customers.

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All the competing sites do the same.

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This type of carbon offsetting

is ubiquitous.

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Lack of effectiveness:

a problem known to scientists.

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According to studies,

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85% of carbon-offset projects

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are not very effective

or have no real impact.

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One of the most critical voices

is in Montpellier,

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the researcher, Alain Karsenty.

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It's the icing on the cake.

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Carbon credits come in addition,

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it increases the company's profits,

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but it was not a decision criterion

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for undertaking the project.

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Icing on the cake

that increases profits,

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but not only that.

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A business has grown up around

carbon offsetting,

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a business of experts and companies,

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happy to tell their shareholders

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they are offsetting.

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Alain Karsenty was particularly

interested in forests.

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In the Congo, in the Isangui region,

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a huge project

for preventing deforestation.

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Fewer trees cut

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means carbon saved.

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This project was created

by an American company, Jadora,

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in partnership

with a logging company.

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The project has

existed for some time

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but the website is still

under construction

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and the results are still pending.

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All over the DRC,

deforestation is on the rise.

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In this area, as in others,

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deforestation is very high.

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This project has not been effective,

but

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it still issues carbon credits,

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because these projects made

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very high deforestation forecasts.

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The trick:

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make the worst possible forecasts.

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In the end, the situation will be

less serious than expected.

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No need to act on the ground

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to receive carbon offsets.

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They chose the worst-case scenario.

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They started from a very limited

number of observations,

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which show an increase

in deforestation.

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Among all the possible futures,

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they have chosen parameters

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that lead to an explosion

in deforestation to say:

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"We avoided the

worst-case scenario."

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The project manager in Congo

refutes these accusations.

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"We are committed

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"to implementing the project

in a serious and effective way.

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"Our calculation methods

are certified

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"and comply with the norms."

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On the carbon-offset market,

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we found even more

questionable projects.

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In India, a coal-fired power plant

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offers CO2 offset certificates.

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But coal is a highly polluting fuel.

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To verify this project,

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we did not go to the site,

but to Zurich.

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It's better for our

carbon footprint.

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Axel Michaelowa is a researcher

at the university

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and has worked for many years

in India.

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He is the specialist in the field.

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I have the documents from

the Sasan Power Ltd plant,

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which has lots of credits.

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I'll show you them.

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I expect you know this factory.

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What do you think of that?

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We immediately see 4,000 megawatts.

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It's a huge power plant, monster.

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A monster that will run

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for forty years.

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Officially, this new plant

is supposed to be greener.

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So it can sell

carbon-offset certificates.

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It was a big program

of the Indian government

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to build this 4,000-megawatt

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coal-fired super-plant.

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-Which is still polluting.

-Certainly.

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It is a bit more efficient

than plants built

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ten years ago, but

no more than 2-3%.

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So these are problematic projects.

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The researcher has publicly

criticized several Indian projects.

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Result:

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he received a surprising proposal

from one of the companies.

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The customer saw

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that my comment was relevant.

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So he wanted to "buy me".

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They suggested I write a study

on the project,

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for money.

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-I refused.

-It's corruption.

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Yes, indeed, but I refused.

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It wasn't the organization itself,

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but the consultant

who was on the ground

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to write the documentation.

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An attempt at corruption,

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controversial carbon certificates...

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We contacted this company,

without success.

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They haven't replied to our letters.

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According to supporters

of carbon offsets,

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these abuses are very rare.

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At Myclimate, there are

no factory projects in India.

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Here, we are defending a method

that is constantly improving.

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Yes, it's quite complex.

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If I were a consumer,

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I would look at the organization

the money goes to.

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At Myclimate, we believe that

if we produce emissions,

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for example,

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when we have to fly,

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it is better to offset the emissions

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than to do nothing.

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You give yourself

a clear conscience flying,

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emitting CO2,

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and thinking,

"It's offset, so it's neutral."

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It's like I'm wiping out my sin,

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like nothing ever existed.

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The risk is that carbon offsetting

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delays the necessary

behavioral change.

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Changing behavior without

having to sacrifice everything.

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The equation seems difficult.

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Miracle solutions for combating

climate change

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have not yet been found.

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Film: The Truth About Carbon Offsetting

http://www.journeyman.tv/film/7762

Transcript