Carbon offsets are flawed but we are now in a climate emergency

Carbon credits and offsets do not have a great record but the funds they raise are a vital part in fight against deforestation

• Revealed: ‘over 90% of rainforest offsets by biggest provider worthless’
• ‘Nowhere else to go’: Alto Mayo, Peru, at centre of conservation row
• Greenwashing or a net zero necessity? Scientists on carbon offsetting

At the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, governments around the world made a striking new pledge on saving the world’s forests. The $12bn (£9.8bn) commitment to protect and restore forests was hailed as a historic step – the “largest ever public climate finance pledge of its kind”, said the UK’s Lord Goldsmith.

Protecting forests, which store about 400 gigatonnes of carbon, is essential to staving off the worst ravages of the climate crisis, and keeping global temperatures to within 1.5C of pre-industrial levels.