An opinion piece by Richard Denniss argues that Australia's reliance on carbon offsets to justify new fossil fuel projects is scientifically unsound. The climate requires both stopping new coal and gas approvals and protecting carbon sinks like forests, not trading one for the other. The article criticizes the Albanese government for approving new gas and coal export projects while relying on offsets from tree planting. It calls for scrapping fossil fuel subsidies and investing directly in household and energy decarbonization instead. For carbon market watchers, this reinforces the growing credibility gap around offsets used to offset ongoing emissions. The piece highlights the tension between offset-based climate accounting and the physical reality of atmospheric carbon.
