The Financial Times has found that these "carbon offset" deals are just a smokescreen.
The FT investigation found:
- Widespread instances of people and organisations buying worthless credits that do not yield any reductions in carbon emissions.
- Industrial companies profiting from doing very little – or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains from which they have already benefited substantially.
- Brokers providing services of questionable or no value.
- A shortage of verification, making it difficult for buyers to assess the true value of carbon credits.
- Companies and individuals being charged over the odds for the private purchase of European Union carbon permits that have plummeted in value because they do not result in emissions cuts.
My first thought when I heard of these "carbon offset" things that it was a sham of a scam. My conscience isn't perfect, but darn it, it was just a little too rigid to allow me to pursue some of this easy money.
Made me think of a comedy routine I saw back when I wasn't concerned about the moral fiber of what I watched. Anyway, it was a Sam Kinison routine about how he wanted to get into the "animal psychology" racket. In his routine, some people with a disturbed dog "Rusty" came to see him, complaining that he just wasn't a happy dog any more. Sam took the dog into his office, closed the door and proceeded to beat the dog silly, telling him, "You're a dog! Just bark! Go chase the Frisbee!" Then he comes out and tells the dog owners, "Yeah, Rusty's all better now. That'll be $500."
Easy money...just like "carbon offsets."
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