{"id":283754,"date":"2023-10-17T21:31:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T19:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=283754"},"modified":"2023-10-17T21:31:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T19:31:25","slug":"the-new-yorker-the-great-cash-for-carbon-hustle-the-markets-largest-offsetting-firm-sold-millions-of-credits-for-carbon-reductions-that-werent-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=283754","title":{"rendered":"The New Yorker: \u2018The Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle\u2019 \u2013 \u2018The market\u2019s largest offsetting firm sold millions of credits for carbon reductions that weren\u2019t real\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offsetting has been hailed as a fix for runaway emissions and climate change\u2014but the market\u2019s largest firm sold millions of credits for carbon reductions that weren\u2019t real.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Marc Morano<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2023\/10\/23\/the-great-cash-for-carbon-hustle<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Heidi Blake<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One evening in November, 2021, a group of men assembled at sundown on the terrace of the Ruckomechi Camp, a safari resort on the Zambezi River. Since arriving by private plane, they had gone out lion-spotting, boated down the river, and landed a giant tiger fish; now they were clinking gin-and-tonics. Hippos wallowed in the water below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party was led by Renat Heuberger, a forty-four-year-old Swiss entrepreneur with narrow eyes and a cropped copper beard. Heuberger was the chief executive of South Pole, the world\u2019s largest carbon-offsetting firm, and he had come to Zimbabwe to fight off an urgent threat to his company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A decade earlier, South Pole had signed a deal to sell carbon offsets from an effort to protect a vast swath of forest on the banks of Lake Kariba, upriver from the camp. The Kariba project, spanning an area ten times the size of New York City, was among the world\u2019s first \u201cavoided deforestation\u201d programs; by deterring local people from chopping down trees, it promised to prevent the release of tens of millions of tons of greenhouse gas. Leading corporations, including Volkswagen, Gucci, Nestl\u00e9, Porsche, and Delta Air Lines, paid South Pole nearly a hundred million dollars for Kariba credits, allowing them to market goods or services as \u201ccarbon neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Pole thus pioneered a model of carbon offsetting that has been counted among our best hopes for staving off climate catastrophe: a mechanism that diverts funds from polluters in wealthy countries to protect crucial ecosystems in the Global South. Heuberger, a kinetic, grandiloquent man, speaks expansively about his mission. \u201cWe\u2019re here to save the climate,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a child, Heuberger spent his spare time gluing protest flyers to car windows, and he considered himself an activist. But, as he built his company, he had developed a consumer-friendly brand of climate optimism. \u201cIt\u2019s not true that to save the climate we will all need to go into perpetual lockdown or stop having fun,\u201d he said, promoting Porsche\u2019s offsetting program. \u201cIn fact, it\u2019s the opposite\u201d\u2014drivers should enjoy their vehicles, knowing that \u201cevery ton of CO2 they compensate for is backed by a verified emission reduction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This perspective was enthusiastically received: Heuberger had regular speaking engagements at Davos and a spot in the World Economic Forum\u2019s network of experts. As brands scrambled for inexpensive ways to reduce emissions, the market for offsets surged, quadrupling in 2021 alone. That year, South Pole was approaching a billion-dollar valuation, which would make it the world\u2019s first \u201ccarbon unicorn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But alarming news had reached the company\u2019s headquarters, in Zurich: it was at risk of losing its most lucrative project. By the terms of the Kariba deal, the company purchased carbon credits from a developer who oversaw the area\u2019s forestland, and sold them for a twenty-five-per-cent commission. Now a competitor had offered the developer a substantial payment to take over the project. To help devise a response, Heuberger turned to an old friend from college, Dirk Muench, who had recently joined South Pole. Muench had left Wall Street to support climate action in the world\u2019s poorest places. He was a self-confessed stickler, and could be too fastidious for Heuberger\u2019s taste\u2014but he was a skilled dealmaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cYes, I was a little late again, but it isn\u2019t like I have any control over the traffic or how many daily puzzles keep coming out!\u201d<\/em>
Cartoon by Teresa Burns Parkhurst
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Offsetting has been hailed as a fix for runaway emissions and climate change\u2014but the market\u2019s largest firm sold millions of credits for carbon reductions that weren\u2019t real. By\u00a0Marc Morano By Heidi Blake One evening in November, 2021, a group of men assembled at sundown on the terrace of the Ruckomechi Camp, a safari resort on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":283763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Offsetting has been hailed as a fix for runaway emissions and climate change\u2014but the market\u2019s largest firm sold millions of credits for carbon reductions that weren\u2019t real.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691822903,691823715,691818056,691818076,691823716,691818108],"class_list":{"0":"post-283754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-carbon-credits","9":"tag-carbon-reductions","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-co2","12":"tag-kariba-project","13":"tag-world-economic-forum","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00screen-0.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1bOG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":290317,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=290317","url_meta":{"origin":283754,"position":0},"title":"Climate Colonialism: \u2018The looming land grab in Africa for carbon credits\u2019 \u2013 Western carbon offset companies look to lock up \u2018a tenth of Liberia\u2019s land mass, a fifth of Zimbabwe\u2019s, & swaths of Kenya, Zambia & Tanzania\u2019","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Financial Times: The looming land grab in Africa for carbon credits - Western carbon offset companies look to lock up \"a tenth of Liberia\u2019s land mass, a fifth of Zimbabwe\u2019s, and swaths of Kenya, Zambia and Tanzania\" - \u201cThe [methods] of exploitation might be new but the consequences are not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Africa\"","block_context":{"text":"Africa","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=africa"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/00GApj_yBWAAAQJoS-935x1024-1.jpeg?fit=935%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/00GApj_yBWAAAQJoS-935x1024-1.jpeg?fit=935%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/00GApj_yBWAAAQJoS-935x1024-1.jpeg?fit=935%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/00GApj_yBWAAAQJoS-935x1024-1.jpeg?fit=935%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":222326,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=222326","url_meta":{"origin":283754,"position":1},"title":"Carbon Offsets: Want to Get Sued? (Greenwashing as illegality)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/05\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The radical environmentalists\u2019 war on \u201cgreenwashing\u201d is a major front in the futile crusade for CO2 mitigation. Perhaps true environmentalists should redirect their aim at grid-connected wind, solar, and batteries instead","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-242.png?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-242.png?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-242.png?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-242.png?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-242.png?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":429996,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=429996","url_meta":{"origin":283754,"position":2},"title":"The UN\u2019s Carbon Trading Resurrection: The Return of Indulgences for the Climate Industrial Complex","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/07\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"On Thursday, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Article 6.4 Supervisory Body approved the first batch of carbon credits under the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism. The project? A South Korean-backed clean-cooking initiative in Myanmar, issuing some 60,000 tonnes of CO\u2082-equivalent emission reductions from efficient cookstoves. Some in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Carbon credits\"","block_context":{"text":"Carbon credits","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-credits"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0-EU-ETS-Emissions-Trading-System.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0-EU-ETS-Emissions-Trading-System.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0-EU-ETS-Emissions-Trading-System.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0-EU-ETS-Emissions-Trading-System.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":409740,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=409740","url_meta":{"origin":283754,"position":3},"title":"Carbon Credits Failure: Sachs, Romm, Rockstr\u00f6m","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/22\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cDon\u2019t get tangled up in your own underwear,\u201d an old saying goes. 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Advocates of this system have been quick to sing its praises, positioning it as the ultimate solution for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. But skeptics, like yours truly, have long pointed out the inherent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Carbon credits\"","block_context":{"text":"Carbon credits","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-credits"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/01982032.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/01982032.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/01982032.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/01982032.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/01982032.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=283754"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283765,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283754\/revisions\/283765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/283763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=283754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=283754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=283754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}