Position on Carbon Offsetting

Humanity will not limit global warming to 1.5°C without dramatically reducing emissions from burning fossil fuels and land-use change. Whilst CAN strongly advocate financing for climate action, including for the protection and restoration of carbon-rich and biodiverse ecosystems, CAN rejects the practice of offsetting to tackle the climate crisis. We reject public, governmental and corporate offsetting. There are far better and more valid alternatives for protecting biodiversity than offsetting. These include effective regulations, contributions, donations, protection of the rights of indigenous communities, and other means.
It is clear that many offset projects, for instance, under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in the Kyoto Protocol, did not deliver “additional” reductions and that the CDM mechanism has failed to reduce emissions.