Big polluters dodge emissions cuts by buying unlimited carbon offsets
Australia's biggest polluters can buy unlimited carbon credits. They do this instead of cutting their own emissions.
Australia treats carbon offsets like they are the same as cutting emissions. Big facilities make about a third of Australia's pollution.
They have no requirement to cut their own emissions under current rules. These facilities can buy unlimited carbon credits instead.
They count them as emission cuts. Using unlimited offsets creates a serious problem.
Fossil fuels buried for thousands of years release greenhouse gas when burned. Carbon in nature can be lost to fire and rot.
Fires in Indonesia in September released nearly 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in one week. This shows how fast nature-based carbon can escape.
- about a third
- Share of Australia's pollution from big
- 1% to 4.9%
- Required annual emissions intensity cuts
- nearly 20 million tonnes
- CO2 from Indonesia fires in one week
- Australian Carbon Credit Units
- Offset system name
Why it mattersIf major polluters are not actually reducing their own emissions, Australia's climate targets rest on something unreliable.
AustraliaAustralia's climate commitments depend on a system treating offsets as equivalent to real emissions cuts, which experts say is fundamentally flawed.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 6 d ago
