After the dust settled at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) last November, one of the most notable outcomes was the ratification of Article 6 of the Paris Climate Accords. This section of the agreement implements new rules governing international carbon trading: the buying and selling of credits representing carbon emissions “offset” by projects ranging from tree planting to renewable energy development.
It is expected that these rules will guide the development of voluntary (a.k.a. private-sector) carbon markets as well, and the private sector has come prepared: over 5,000 companies in the United Nations’ Race to Zero initiative have made commitments to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The “net” in many of those commitments? Offsets.
Unfortunately, this could spell trouble for the climate. Corporate polluters have used offsets as an excuse to keep emitting, but there’s little evidence that offsets are actually slowing climate change. In fact, recent research has cast doubt on offsets’ ability to effectively counter large-scale emissions, and in some cases, offsets have actually added carbon to the atmosphere. However, that hasn’t stopped some of the world’s largest corporate polluters like JBS, Amazon, Google, and more from depending on questionable offset schemes to meet their climate targets.
What’s more, offset programs have enabled land-grabbing and violations of Indigenous rights in the Amazon. The offenses are myriad, ranging from intrusion on Indigenous Kichwa land to establish a national park that ultimately sold offset credits to Shell, to logging on Indigenous territories in offset tracts purchased by so-called “carbon neutral” airline EasyJet. As Amazon Watch previously outlined in our 2021 brief “The Amazon Rainforest-Sized Loophole in Net Zero”, Indigenous land rights in the Amazon have been repeatedly violated in the name of spurious “net zero” commitments that rely on carbon offsets.
Amazon Watch opposes offsets because they are a false solution to achieve an illusory “net zero.” Last October, we released a statement signed by nearly 200 civil society, farming, and Indigenous organizations across the world entitled “Offsets Don’t Stop Climate Change.” Since then, we have been working to track and oppose offset initiatives that threaten Indigenous rights in the Amazon and allow polluters to continue to endanger our climate and the health of the rainforest.
Most recently, we voiced our opposition to the Science-Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) newly-proposed Forest, Land, and Agriculture (FLAG) emissions targets, along with movement allies such as the Indigenous Environmental Network, Friends of the Earth, Family Farm Defenders, and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. SBTi bills itself as one of the foremost authorities on emissions target standards for the private sector, but its proposed FLAG standards allow offsets to contribute to emissions targets for companies in the food, agriculture, and forest sectors – which would include companies responsible for Amazon destruction like JBS and Cargill.
Amazon Watch continues to demand, alongside our partners in the Amazon, that governments, financial institutions, and companies direct funding for climate and forest protection directly to Indigenous peoples who seek it, allowing them to lead with Indigenous solutions that protect forests and help fight climate change. However, we reject attempts to tie this funding to carbon offsets that will allow the very same companies responsible for rampant greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and Indigenous rights violations to continue destroying the environment.
As we continue to oppose false solutions like carbon offsets, we ask that you lend your voice in support of Indigenous-led solutions like the 80×2025 campaign, a call to permanently protect 80% of the Amazon rainforest by 2025. Led by the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), the campaign is a critical demand to protect the cultural survival of Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, the rainforest’s ecosystems and biodiversity, and the global climate. Sign the petition to support 80×2025 here!
