Carbon offsetting and green gas: Chasing fairy tale of climate-neutral future or key tools in net zero’s arsenal?

As time goes by, the zest for a carbon-free world has sparked a seismic shift toward the sphere of environmental sustainability. However, many thorns remain on the path to such a low-emission world, including differing perceptions about the tools to achieve this goal. This is hammered home by the pursuit of so-called green gas and how the business case for carbon units is shunned by some and welcomed by others.

While many attempts have been made to unravel all the nuances of carbon units, the debate on this topic still tends to be polarized. Those in favor are adamant that carbon units will play a pivotal role in the decarbonization game, as they see it as a crucial tool in global environmental action, which spotlights the importance of carbon offsetting in going beyond the currently carbon-intensive landscape to achieve net zero aspirations.

For the world to reach a zero-emission state of play, carbon removals need to be monetized, national carbon removal targets need to be set in place by governments alongside incentives to stimulate demand. The findings underline the importance of delivering projects at cost levels that paint removals in an attractive light considering the expected future carbon prices. 

The report further notes that nature-based solutions (NBS), such as afforestation and soil carbon, have the greatest potential for scale at a lower cost per tonne than engineered solutions with many deployment opportunities under $100/tonne of CO2, compared to engineered solutions that range between $100 and $1,000/tonne.

On the other hand, the opponents of current carbon offsetting practices perceive CO2 certificates as a widespread greenwashing strategy that offers polluting companies an opportunity to buy themselves out of their responsibility for climate protection, instead of curbing their emissions footprint. Those naysayers, who are firmly against the ever-growing use of carbon units, also do not buy into what they deem the green gas myth.

With climate change battering the world mercilessly, the need to slash emissions has risen over the past few years. However, the journey towards the end goal of entering into a sustainability mode still begins with the same step of quantifying emissions, which entails measuring the carbon footprint of one’s operations.

Such a move covers not only the total amount of carbon emissions produced directly but also those generated indirectly by an individual or an organization to shed some light on the environmental impact and serves as the baseline from which businesses can come up with strategies to reduce and compensate for this impact.

Once a company has gained more insight into its carbon footprint, the next step in the sustainability journey encompasses the process of pinpointing ways to compensate for and reduce these emissions, in a bid to renew nature and invigorate environmental health.