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Carbon Offsets Are Often Scams

Trading on eco-guilt, firms are selling worthless carbon credits

By J. Kelman,  Newser User

Posted Apr 26, 2007 7:56 PM CDT

(Newser) – Carbon offsets—the credits gas-guzzling consumers buy to cancel out their carbon production—may do little or nothing more than assuage consciences, a Financial Times investigation concludes. Some companies sell worthless credits; others use them to finance environmental projects they had planned anyway. And consumers have no means to know when they're getting scammed.

Most of the schemes are legal, if unethical. Chemical giant DuPont, for instance, allows customers to offset one ton of its own CO2 production for $4—less than it costs the company. “The police, the fraud squad and trading standards need to be looking into this," an HSBC adviser says of the multibillion-dollar industry.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY: US-energy-coal-climate-warming (FILES...
TO GO WITH AFP STORY: US-energy-coal-climate-warming (FILES...   (Getty Images)
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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
kyleleitch
Oct 27, 2009 9:08 AM CDT
Surprise! The world's largest chemical company, among others, are taking advantage of the system!

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