As the world prepares for the 28th round of global climate negotiations, which will take place in Abu Dhabi in late November, the climate crisis is intensifying. Wildfires, droughts, and other extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common. But governments are not acting with the necessary speed, despite the fact that a UN report published last week found, yet again, that the world is far from meeting the 2015 Paris agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Scientists fear that, if temperatures rise beyond that, the planet could reach irreversible tipping points.
Decarbonizing the economy at the speed that the climate crisis requires is an inordinately complex task. There is, however, one straightforward step that can help speed this transition: countries should phase out the use of all temporary carbon offsets. Carbon offsets are activities that reduce greenhouse gases and that are then used to compensate for emissions that occur elsewhere. Temporary, or non-permanent, offsets include planting or preserving forests, building solar installations, and capturing methane from landfills or coal mines. Temporary offsets may succeed in storing carbon for decades or even a century. But eventually, they will release the stored carbon and atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will rise.