Wildfires are destroying California's forest carbon credit reserves, study says

#105 · ✸ 69 · 💬 55 · one year ago · www.reuters.com · baobob · 📷
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 5 - Carbon offsets generated from forests to counteract future climate-warming emissions from California's big polluters are rapidly being depleted as trees are ravaged by wildfire and disease, new research published on Friday suggests. One of California's key policy tools to combat climate change may be falling far short of its goals, the researchers said - raising questions about similar carbon offset programs around the world. The group's research has questioned the value of the California forest carbon offset program in fighting climate change in the past. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"The problems we observe here aren't unique to the California program and raise broader concerns about the integrity of offsets' permanence claims," Freya Chay, one of the study's authors, said in a statement. Under California law, large emitters face carbon limits and must buy allowances for the greenhouse gases they emit. They may offset up to 4% of their emissions with offset credits, such as those generated from the program's forest conservation projects in 29 states, according to the California Air Resources Board. In an emailed statement, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board said its Compliance Offsets Program was "a prudent part of our program," and that its risk metrics were based on the information available to the state agency at the time the policy was developed.
Wildfires are destroying California's forest carbon credit reserves, study says



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