Lately I’ve begun to wonder something: when did “offset” turn into a swear word? Should I be spelling it as off***?
The extent to which offsets have become vilified in much of the discourse around decarbonisation not only concerns me – it simply baffles me.
Offsets form part and parcel of any sensible net-zero strategy. Without offsets, there cannot feasibly be a net reduction to zero emissions.
But it seems to be increasingly suggested that offsets should be reserved exclusively for when all other decarbonisation possibilities have been exhausted and only residual emissions remain. Apparently, then and only then is it acceptable to use them.
Why anti-offsets logic is flawed
There is a massive flaw in this approach. Perhaps the term “buying offsets” is distracting people from what is actually being done – that is, using offsets to direct capital towards climate-positive projects and initiatives.
If we are to ensure that global warming doesn’t exceed 1.5C by 2050, we desperately need to both decarbonise as fast as possible, and invest in long-term climate solutions, now.
It’s not one or the other – it’s both, and they should be done in parallel, not in turn.
Buying offsets is essentially a way to invest in climate solutions that are otherwise not commercially viable (or you’d just invest regularly alongside your assets to receive investment returns).
And more often than not, many of the most hard-to-monetise opportunities are nature-based solutions such as soil and peatland preservation, forest restoration, ocean conservation and so on. If we’re not encouraging investment into this vital work, natural habitats around the world will pay the price.
A win-win (before it’s too late)
During last year’s seminal COP15 summit on biodiversity, countries around the world committed to protect and restore 30 percent of the world’s land and 30 percent of the world’s ocean by 2030.
Surely the financial services sector should be doing all we can to fulfil those targets?
Or is the plan to decarbonise by 2050, decide we’re finally ready to offset and protect the forests, and realise there’s no more forest left to