What does a carbon offset really mean?

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

In today's SacBee, Governor Schwarzenegger gets hit on his carbon footprint. As many know, the Governator flies back and forth from LA to Sacramento quite frequently on a private jet, typically a Gulfstream 400.  Arnold's people have been saying that he uses carbon offsets to reduce his carbon footprint, but the value of carbon offsets remains a question.

Since July, the governor has used a new carbon offsets program run by NetJets, the private jet company through which he flies, McLear said. NetJets charges Gulfstream 400 customers $47.13 per hour flown to offset their emissions. The money goes toward a New Zealand wind farm, as well as projects to prevent harmful methane from spewing from an abandoned coal mine in Illinois and three dairy farms in Wisconsin.

But there are some serious questions as to the value of carbon offsets, flip it.
Now, I will say that it can't hurt to buy carbon offsets, except to the extent that you increase your carbon spewing behavior  because you've ditched some of the guilt. Some of the firms who sell offsets are genuinely trying to provide a service that helps the environment (while making a buck), but others are, well, a little less trustworthy. Earlier this year, a nonprofit, Clean Air - Cool Planet (h/t dKos diary) released a study of carbon offsets.  It was non too complimentary:

The study ... gives only eight out of 30 providers of carbon "offsets" a score of more than five out of 10 for the service they offer in taking carbon out of the atmosphere.

The report says the worst companies make it difficult for customers to establish whether what they do - planting trees, installing solar panels or making biofuels - would not have happened anyway.

Offsetting a ton of carbon can cost from ?2 to ?19, according to the study. But it claims that price is no guarantee of whether projects take carbon out of the atmosphere permanently, as offsets claim to do. (UK Telegraph 1/17/07)

It's an outstanding question for the success of programs like AB 32, as well, I suppose, for the future of the environment. We must ask more questions of the companies who sell these "credits", politicians and other notable figures who buy them, and ourselves.

Of course, one solution for the governor would be to not be travelling in private planes all over the place, but that's a different question.