The simplicity of the idea is appealing Consumers and businesses worldwide voluntarily offset an equivalent of 6 million tons of CO2 in 2005,forking out $43 million in the process, seven times the amount spent the previous year.(Event British Prime Minister Tony Blair is ponying up, after coming under pressure to offset his family’s New Year travel.)By 2010, that figure could soar to 400 million tons worth up to $5 billion, according to consultancy ICF International.
But is what’s good for the carbon offsetting business good for the environment? That’s open to debate. Voluntary carbon offsetting is an unlicensed industry, and without a common regulator to police the projects and companies pledging to shrink emissions offset provider have come up with a raft of competing rules and practices, not all of them with the credibility customers expect.
Take tree planting. Although experts agree that do suck up CO2 from the atmosphere, that’s still no consensus on just how much a forest can absorb in its lifetime. Scientists estimate that, depending on the soil and climate, a hectare of 1000 trees can process between five and 10 tons of CO2 each year. But the longer the time span, the harder the absorption is to predict. Some companies, such as London’s Carbon Clear, say they invest not just in planting trees, but also in ensuring they thrive. But others may not be diligent and disease, fire and logging can all shorten a tree’s life. “You can never be sure the atmosphere sees the benefit,” say Dietrich Brockhagen, managing director of atmosfair, a Berlin-based offset provider that avoids reforestation schemes.