I was dead set against carbon offsets, then I dug into the data

I used to think carbon offsets were just a way for companies to feel good without actually cutting emissions, but after looking at a 2023 study on a reforestation project in Indonesia, I saw that it actually pulled 500 tons of CO2 out of the air over 3 years. It made me wonder if I've been too harsh on the whole system. Has anyone else changed their mind on something like this after checking the numbers?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_anna1mo ago

Those 500 tons over 3 years works out to about 167 tons a year. A single commercial flight from Sydney to London emits around 15 tons per seat. So that whole project covers maybe 11 flights a year. Ngl, that's a drop in the bucket when you look at global emissions. And the big issue is most offsets don't actually do what they claim - I've seen studies where up to 80 percent of forest projects either get wiped out by wildfires or weren't going to happen anyway. So I'm still skeptical, honestly.

johnson.ryan1mo ago

Yeah, that wildfire stat really hit me. You're totally right to be skeptical.