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Once upon a time, the carbon credit market seemed like a promising way to protect the world’s forests.
But in recent years, the industry has lost a great deal of trust and support, leaving forests like Kenya’s Kasigau Corridor in trouble, according to The Guardian.
What is happening?
Carbon credits have become a popular option for large companies such as airlines and oil companies to try to offset their emissions.
The idea was that the company could buy credits that finance planet-friendly projects, thus eliminating a certain amount of harmful carbon pollution. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, that market virtually collapsed after the main facilitator of credits, Vera, was found to have a flawed system that overestimated the effects of credits, The Guardian reported.
The Kasigau Corridor in Kenya was one of the few projects that really benefited from financial support through carbon credits.
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Through significant investments from large companies such as Shell and Netflix, the country has made great strides towards protecting Kasigao, an important elephant habitat and natural resource. Without this funding, the forest became vulnerable to deforestation.
“The common rumor in the community is that the project is dying because the money is not coming in,” said Agnès Kibe, who lives near Casigao.
“There is no income now,” confirms Newton Nero, who was working on the tree measurement project. “We are really suffering. We depend on the forest.”
Why is deforestation a concern?
Forests are one of the most important natural resources on Earth.
It keeps the air clean for humans to breathe, and is home to millions of animal species. Preservation is non-negotiable in the fight to keep the world a safe and healthy place to live.
The Guardian found that carbon credits no longer look like a good way to achieve this goal, as more than 90% of a large sample of offset projects “do not represent real carbon reductions.”
The controversy was a good example of this Greenwashing Giving the appearance of sustainability without taking meaningful actions to match it.
However, this does not mean that every carbon credit project has been misrepresented. Kasigau and other credible projects made real progress with the support of appropriations before disappearing.
What is being done to fix carbon credits?
Vera is said to be implementing a new system for calculating credits, with the aim of being more accurate and transparent.
The Guardian warned that it remains unclear whether companies will actually return to the carbon credit market.
Fortunately, there are countless ways to reduce pollution at the source rather than trying to make up for it later.
to support Conservation initiatives, Take local actionand Corporate shopping That meet green commitments are all ways ordinary people can help.
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