Re:I liked the idea of carbon offsets until I tried to expla...
by tgsovlerkhgsel on Monday April 11, 2022 @04:13PM
(#30994229)
> the only way to 'offset' fossil fuel CO2 emissions is to bury an equivalent amount of carbon, extracted from the atmosphere, in a geologically stable formation or a permanently anoxic aquatic basin
Why would avoiding the same amount of emissions in a place where it's cheaper to avoid not help?
Let's say for each kg of kerosene you burn in your plane, you hand out a solar lamp to someone using kerosene lamps, accelerating solar lamp adoption in a way that causes 1 kg less kerosene to be burned by that person.
The total emissions without the flight + compensation is 1 kg of kerosene burned in a lamp (over the period we're looking at). The total emissions with the flight + compensation is 1 kg of kerosene burned in a plane (and 0 in the lamp).
Why would avoiding the same amount of emissions in a place where it's cheaper to avoid not help?
Let's say for each kg of kerosene you burn in your plane, you hand out a solar lamp to someone using kerosene lamps, accelerating solar lamp adoption in a way that causes 1 kg less kerosene to be burned by that person.
The total emissions without the flight + compensation is 1 kg of kerosene burned in a lamp (over the period we're looking at). The total emissions with the flight + compensation is 1 kg of kerosene burned in a plane (and 0 in the lamp).
That seems very much offsetting.