Many of Australia’s offset schemes remove almost no carbon from the atmosphere, a new study has found, despite claiming hundreds of million of dollars worth of credits.
The “Human Induced Regeneration” method supposedly stores carbon through encouraging increased tree and plant cover on areas previously cleared for farming.
But research into 116 such projects found there was no meaningful difference in regrowth between areas that were claiming offsets and other areas.
Practically all the regrowth that took place was due to rainfall. It is the latest research from a team of ANU and UNSW academics led by Andrew McIntosh.
In total there are already 465 similar projects claiming offsets over a land area six times the size of Tasmania.
Offsets are at the centre of the Labor government’s Safeguards Mechanism, its main policy to reduce the 28 per cent of the country’s emissions that come from industry. It allows companies to buy their way out of cutting emissions—as well as the opening of new coal and gas projects.
This is further proof it’s a fraud.
