Carbon Offsets: The Route to Net Zero or Corporate Greenwashing?

Today, you don’t have to look far to find companies boasting about their plans to reach net zero or become carbon neutral. <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/planet/climate-pledge" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon</a> says it wants to reach net zero by 2040. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/15/shell-directors-sued-net-zero-clientearth" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Shell</a> says they’ll do it by 2050, as does the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/12/aviation-net-zero-emissions/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">airline industry.</a> And if you listened to the recent presentation by Apple, you might be led to believe the tech giant is single-handedly going to save the planet. Countries have also jumped on the trend. For instance, the UK promises to reach net zero by 2050 despite <a href="https://medium.com/the-new-climate/uk-government-shows-lack-of-leadership-in-weakening-green-policies-7d572ecc3fb5" rel="noopener">backtracking on many of its green policies</a>. Going ‘net zero’ means just what it sounds like. It’s a pledge not to increase the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. In practice, that means reducing emissions and ‘cancelling out’ emissions by purchasing carbon offsets or utilizing a combination of both. <a href="https://medium.com/the-new-climate/carbon-offsets-the-route-to-net-zero-or-corporate-greenwashing-24759baf2182">Learn More</a>