Extract taken from Friends of the Earth website Scientists tell us that taking action on climate change is more urgent than ever.
Since 1997 offsetting has been championed as a key tool to deliver:
Instead of cutting their own emissions they can pay for developing countries to cut their emissions instead.In detail, Friends of the Earth's new report:A Dangerous Distraction examines the record of the main offset scheme - the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
It looks at the likely effects of expanding offsetting as proposed in the UN climate talks.The report shows that in practice offsetting isn't leading to global emisssions reductions or benefiting developing countries. Instead it is simply leading to more ingenious ways to avoid cutting emissions.
A Dangerous Dangerous Distraction finds that offsetting is: