<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/telstra-dumps-offsets-and-carbon-neutral-claims-whistleblower-says-others-should-do-the-same/>
"Telstra’s move to get rid of carbon credits and dump claims of “carbon
neutrality” could be part of a trend away from a market rife with low quality
offsets, says the man who blew the whistle on Australia’s carbon offset market.
Last week, Telstra said it will stop using carbon credits and instead directly
invest in decarbonisation projects, a move ANU professor Andrew Macintosh says
is the “sensible” strategy.
Macintosh, the former head of the government’s Emissions Reduction Assurance
Committee whose work highlighting flaws in Australia’s carbon credit markets
led to a major review of the sector, says companies participating in the
country’s voluntary carbon markets are worried.
“The feedback we’re getting from voluntary players is that they see the market
dominated by low integrity credits,” he told
Renew Economy.
“A lot of them don’t have the in-house expertise to evaluate credit integrity,
they’re fearful of being accused of greenwashing when they use credits. I would
have thought there is a bit of a trend that way [towards exiting the market].
The question now is how big a trend that becomes.”
The numbers might be bearing him out. The Clean Energy Regulator’s March
quarter report showed that in the first three months of 2024, 1 million of the
1.2 million Australian Carbon Credit UNits (ACCUs) cancelled were for
compliance purposes.
Getting out of offsets and directly investing as Telstra is doing is likely the
“sensible strategy,” Macintosh says.
“It means emissions reductions won’t look as good on paper but they will be
legitimate. That is a much better outcome for the climate, and their
stakeholders,” he says.
“I think the more sensible approach for voluntary players is asking how much
capital we’re willing to invest in striving to reduce emissions, and take that
and put it in the place that gives you the most legitimate reductions in
emissions.”"
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
