The researchers said the worst problems were with issuing additional credits for “non-additional” projects, such as building a windfarm that would have gone up anyway; impermanent projects, such as planting trees that later burn down in a wildfire; projects with leakage, such as protecting part of a forest but effectively pushing loggers elsewhere; and double-counted projects, such as restoring a peatland but letting the seller and buyer claim the drop in emissions.
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Allowing businesses to “offset” just allowed them to pollute even more. When the offsets were things like “we won’t cut down this forest right now”