Carbon trading is often promoted as a key mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by putting a price on carbon. But critics argue it lets major polluters avoid real cuts by buying offsets instead of cleaning up their own operations. This article from Prothom Alo English examines both sides of the debate, with a focus on what carbon markets mean for climate vulnerable countries like Bangladesh. The piece explains how carbon credits work, from renewable energy projects to forest conservation, and highlights the potential benefits: new climate finance, private investment, and incentives for cleaner technology. But it also digs into the serious risks: weak verification, greenwashing, and the danger that offset projects harm local communities by restricting access to land and resources. The author argues that carbon trading must be designed with strong safeguards to avoid becoming a new marketplace of inequality. For anyone following carbon markets or climate policy in the Global South, this article is worth reading. It does not take a simple pro or con position. Instead, it lays out the conditions under which carbon trading might actually help versus when it could do more harm than good. The focus on Bangladesh gives it a practical angle that is often missing from broader carbon market debates.
