Category Archives: Carbon offsetting

Green growth: the save-the-mangrove scheme reaping rewards for women in Kenya

Posted on by

A community project on the Lamu archipelago trains women in preserving this vital ecosystem and provides business loans

Kenya’s mangroves have been harvested for centuries, the timber used in shipbuilding and for ornate doors and furniture as well as shipped across the Indian Ocean and around the world.

The Lamu archipelago accounts for more than half of Kenya’s mangrove forests. But across the country an estimated 40% of this precious commodity has been degraded, as more mangroves have been cut to provide construction materials and charcoal for cooking, and oil leakages from cruise liners and ships that pass along the coast kill off young saplings. The area has become one of the most degraded marine ecosystems in east Africa.

Continue reading...

Financial help for airlines ‘should come with strict climate conditions’

Posted on by

Former EU climate chief Miguel Arias Cañete fears end of Covid-19 will bring higher carbon emissions

Financial help from taxpayers to airlines hit by the coronavirus crisis must come with strict conditions on their future climate impact, the former EU climate commissioner and a group of green campaigners have said.

“It must be conditional, otherwise when we recover we will see the same or higher levels of carbon dioxide [from flying],” said Miguel Arias Cañete, the EU climate commissioner who led the bloc to the Paris agreement, in an interview with the Guardian. “We know the level of emissions we have to commit to [under Paris]. They [airlines] are worried about survival and will need lots of support, lots of liquidity – that gives them a big responsibility.”

Continue reading...

‘Greta Thunberg effect’ driving growth in carbon offsetting

Posted on by

NGOs report fourfold increases in investments in carbon-reducing projects in developing countries

Growing concern about the climate crisis and the “Greta Thunberg effect” are driving huge increases in individuals and businesses choosing to offset their emissions by investing in carbon-reducing projects in developing countries.

NGOs and organisations involved in carbon offsetting have seen as much as a fourfold increase in investment from people who want to try to mitigate their carbon footprints.

Continue reading...

‘On the right side of history’: Jacinda Ardern hails New Zealand zero-carbon law – video

Posted on by

The New Zealand prime minister's zero-carbon bill has passed in parliament with historic cross-party support. It commits the country to new climate change laws and to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2050 in line with the Paris climate agreement. The bill passed by 119 votes to one with the centre-right opposition National party's support, despite none of its proposed amendments being accepted

Continue reading...

No fly zone: I didn’t catch a plane for a year and saved 19 tonnes of Co2

Posted on by

A year without air travel taught me the path to carbon neutral won’t be easy, but I learned I could inspire others to act

What is the single thing that you could do that would most reduce your carbon footprint? Take your bike to work rather than your car? Dig up your lawn for a vegetable garden? For me, an academic scientist living and working in Auckland, New Zealand, I reasoned that the most significant thing I could do was to stop flying.

In 2017 I flew 84,000km. I made twenty day trips to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city. I travelled to the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia to attend conferences and work on joint projects with other scientists. All of this made me accountable for around 19 tonnes of carbon dioxide that year, nearly three times that of the average Kiwi.

Continue reading...

Tree planting ‘has mind-blowing potential’ to tackle climate crisis

Posted on by

Research shows a trillion trees could be planted to capture huge amount of carbon dioxide

Planting billions of trees across the world is by far the biggest and cheapest way to tackle the climate crisis, according to scientists, who have made the first calculation of how many more trees could be planted without encroaching on crop land or urban areas.

As trees grow, they absorb and store the carbon dioxide emissions that are driving global heating. New research estimates that a worldwide planting programme could remove two-thirds of all the emissions that have been pumped into the atmosphere by human activities, a figure the scientists describe as “mind-blowing”.

Continue reading...

‘A right wing minority’: Malcolm Turnbull re-enters the fray with Neg spray

Posted on by

Former PM warns electricity prices will be higher because the Coalition dumped the national energy guarantee

The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has returned to the fray to warn dumping the national energy guarantee – a decision taken by Scott Morrison – will drive up power prices.

Turnbull took exception to a column at the weekend characterising the national energy guarantee as “Malcolm Turnbull’s Neg”, pointing out the policy had strong support within the cabinet, “including and especially the current PM and treasurer”.

Continue reading...

‘Malicious’: Shorten and business groups defy Coalition’s assault on climate policy

Posted on by

High-quality international offsets should be part of any credible policy, industry says

Business groups are defying the Morrison government’s political assault on the use of international permits, arguing a credible climate policy should include access to high-quality international offsets, because they are a key mechanism to help Australia meet its Paris target.

With climate change persisting as a significant campaign flashpoint, the chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, James Pearson, told Guardian Australia international permits were part of the toolkit for mitigating climate change in a cost-effective way.

Continue reading...