Addict, me? I could stop anytime…

No, not blogging, offsetting…

This from Greenbang,

Carbon offsets have led to a ‘lost decade’ of fossil fuel addiction

Carbon offset schemes not only haven’t helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions to any degree, they might actually be encouraging companies to keep polluting and worsening the future climate situation.

That’s the warning from Steffen Böhm and Siddhartha Dabhi, two researchers from the University of Essex who have compiled a new book, “Upsetting the Offset: The Political Economy of Carbon Markets.”

Launched in advance of next month’s scheduled climate talks in Copenhagen, the book features contributions from more than 30 experts in the business of carbon.

Which is what the responsible travel dotcom guy, Mark Lynas and everyone else with two neurons to rub together has been saying for quite a while. Whydya think Marks and Sparks explicitly said offsetting was always going to be weapon of last resort in their decarbonising? This is just a reputational risk time-bomb a tick-tockin’ away…

We are a very self-indulgent species. Homo ’sapiens’ indeed.