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It is a common belief that carbon offsets and carbon credits are a flawed system that creates a market for emitting organizations to claim "green" to meet standards. While the system has many exploitations, the VCM has value in nature-based removal credits. These credits remove carbon from the atmosphere while preserving natural resources. In this blog, I plan to explore how nature-based offsets can be critical in transitioning to a net zero-carbon economy.
While it is clear that incentives are misaligned for critical players in the VCM, there are solutions to mitigate these risks. With the introduction of blockchain technology, information regarding forests is uploaded automatically, allowing all reforestation data to be tracked publicly.
The benefit of nature-based offsets is that many of them act as carbon removal projects as well. These projects sequester carbon from the atmosphere. For example, a tree sequesters 48 pounds of CO2 annually, and seagrasses can store up to twice as much carbon as terrestrial forests [1]. There is much work to be done to reverse the damage of climate change, and sequestration is a big part of that—Here are a few different types of nature-based offset projects.
Improved Forest Management (IFM): Protecting and sustainably managing threatened forests.
Afforestation, Reforestation, Revegetation (ARR): Planting trees to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
Check out https://www.openforestprotocol.org/
REDD+: Preserving forests and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries.
Check out https://www.redd.plus/
Regenerative Agriculture: Sequestering carbon in soil through sustainable land management.
Check out https://www.oneearth.org/projects
Blue Carbon: Protecting coastal ecosystems to store carbon.
Check out https://oceanfdn.org/
Supporting these projects is vital to preserving our planet. Businesses should work to reduce emissions and offset the remaining carbon with projects like these. Nature-based offsets are crucial to removing carbon and creating a more pristine earth.
