"The offsets' vulnerability to wildfires shows they're a flawed climate tool, particularly as big blazes become more common."
"Eighty-six large forest fires are burning across 12 states. Among the trees they’re torching are ones being used as carbon credits, showing the danger of relying on forests to offset emissions elsewhere.
The Bootleg Fire is the nation’s largest wildfire of the season and has spread across more than 400,000 acres of Oregon and California. It has torched 24% of one such project known as Klamath East—a 400,000-acre forest owned and operated by the Green Diamond Resource Company—according to analyses by CarbonPlan, a nonprofit research firm that specializes in investigating carbon removal programs.
Two other blazes, the Summit Creek and Shoal Creek Fires, are currently tearing through an offset project in eastern Washington state that is operated by BP (yes, that BP) on the Colville Indian Reservation. Four percent of the project has burned down so far, and the flames are expected to spread in the coming days as temperatures rise again."
