BP-Owned Firm Selling Carbon Credits On Trees That Aren’t In Danger: Study

"Satellite analysis looked at credits sold by Finite Carbon, which runs some of North America’s largest offsetting projects".

"Some forest carbon offsets sold by the biggest offsetting company in the United States offer little or no benefit to the climate, a satellite analysis has found.

Finite Carbon, created in 2009 and bought by British multinational oil and gas giant BP in 2020, is responsible for more than a quarter of the total U.S. carbon credits, which it says it generates from protecting more than 60 “high credibility, high integrity projects” across 4 million acres.

However, experts at the offsets ratings agency Renoster and the nonprofit CarbonPlan analyzed three projects accounting for almost half of Finite Carbon’s total credits, with an estimated market value of $334 million, according to analysis by market intelligence company AlliedOffsets. Renoster found issues, including trees in a project in the Alaskan Panhandle that were likely never in danger of being cut down in an already extensively logged area. Of the credits Renoster looked at, they found that around 79% should not have been issued.

Renoster, a company mostly used by prospective buyers of carbon credits to help them avoid those without real climate benefits, was commissioned by the nonprofit newsroom SourceMaterial to examine Finite’s projects. CarbonPlan provided additional analysis."

Miranda Green reports for Floodlight, and Luke Barratt for SourceMaterial, co-published with the Guardian July 11, 2024.

Source: Floodlight/SourceMaterial, 07/12/2024