There are now many well documented issues associated with conventional offsetting (see our report on this here). These include:
- Problems verifying effectiveness
- Reliance on estimates and predictions
- Using offsets to greenwash or avoid emissions reductions
- The fact that, even if effective, offsetting projects will not remove emissions in time to reach 2030 targets.
This means that, by spending money on offsetting, organisations are often:
- Spending money on projects and initiatives that are unproven or ineffective
- Suggesting that we can ‘cancel out’ emissions, which implies that we don’t need to focus on reductions
- Using up limited organisational resources which could have been spent on more effective climate action.
As the issues associated with offsetting become better-known, there is growing demand for alternative ways to show commitment and support effective climate solutions. Strategic Climate Funds are GCC’s suggested solution to this problem.
Strategic Climate Funds attempt to address the issues associated with offsetting by allowing organisations to effectively finance climate projects and continue to focus on their own emissions reductions.
Further SCF reading:
