Shell to spend $450m on carbon offsetting as fears grow that credits may be worthless

British multinational to spend huge sums on schemes that do not bring genuine carbon reductions, analysis showsMore than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest provider are 'worthless'Greenwashing or a net zero necessity? Scientists on carbon offsettingCarbon offsets flawed but we are in a climate emergencyThe fossil fuel firm Shell has set aside more than $450m (?367m) to invest in carbon offsetting projects, and plans to buy the equivalent of half the current market for nature offsets every year, the Guardian can reveal.But a joint investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and Source Material into Verra, the world's leading carbon standard for the rapidly growing $2bn voluntary offsets market, has found, based on analysis of a significant percentage of the projects, that more than 90% of their rainforest offset credits - among the most commonly used by companies - are likely to be "phantom credits" and do not represent genuine carbon reductions. Continue reading...