<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/07/forest-regeneration-that-earned-multimillion-dollar-carbon-credits-resulted-in-fewer-trees-analysis-finds>
"Projects meant to regenerate Australia’s outback forests to store carbon
dioxide have been awarded millions of carbon credits – worth hundreds of
millions of dollars – despite total tree and shrub cover in those areas having
declined, a new analysis has found.
It is the latest claim that raises doubts about the integrity of Australia’s
carbon credit system, which the federal government and polluting businesses
rely on to meet targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The analysis by six academics, including the former carbon credit scheme
integrity chair Prof Andrew Macintosh, has been presented to a review of the
system commissioned by the climate change minister, Chris Bowen.
Carbon credits are issued for projects that use government-approved methods to
store or avoid greenhouse gas emissions. One carbon credit is meant to
represent one tonne of carbon dioxide. Credits can then be sold to the
government or polluting businesses, which use them to offset their onsite
emissions.
Macintosh, an environmental law and policy professor at the Australian National
University and former head of the government’s Emissions Reduction Assurance
Committee, said the analysis found compelling evidence of widespread problems
with forest regeneration projects.
He said some projects that used the human-induced regeneration (HIR) method had
been awarded carbon credits for managed forest regeneration when it had not
occurred, and others for regeneration that would have occurred anyway because
it was mostly just due to rainfall."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
