Carbon footprint hoax has been open secret for years

OPINION:

President Donald Trump railed at the U.N. General Assembly about the “scam” of carbon offsets, and warned other countries to stop destroying their economies by partaking in the “hoax.”

He couldn’t be more correct.

What’s more, everybody knows it. Everybody knows carbon offsets are profit-driven, agenda-driven deceptions. It’s been the open secret of the environmental industry for years.

“Carbon Offsets Are Climate Scams,” wrote Food & Water Watch in May of 2024.

“Emissions trading was supposed to save the planet. But fraudsters quickly learned how to rip the system off, making themselves spectacularly rich,” The Guardian wrote in June of 2024.

“Carbon offsets are a scam,” wrote Greenpeace International in November of 2021. More from Greenpeace: “Carbon offsetting is truly a scammer’s dream scheme. It’s a bookkeeping trick intended to obscure climate wrecking emissions. It’s tree-planting window dressing aimed at distracting from ecosystem destruction.”

It doesn’t get much blunter than that. And that’s from Greenpeace — Greenpeace! — the group known ‘round the world for its self-described “creative confrontation” against energy developers, corporations and, well, just about anyone who disturbs the ecosystems.

Carbon offsets have been — as Trump said — rife with fraud since their creation. Tracking carbon footprints as a means of offsetting them with clean energy or zero emissions activities down the line has been a most profitable endeavor, generating billions for those savvy enough to jump aboard the train. But the results, in terms of saving the environment, are a big nothingburger.

In a January 2024 study, The Australia Institute found 23 times “carbon offsets were found to be dodgy.” Turns out, paying people to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is dubious business, based largely on fabrications and fanciful notions. Drive your car for 40 miles? Cool your home with air conditioning? That’s okay; pay this carbon tax so that government can collect funds to feed into so-called Green endeavors — code for “pet profits” and “elite friends.”

Fly the friendly skies? Clear-cut property for development? Click at one of the handy-dandy online sites to “donate” to a group that will then find ways to offset your carbon footprint. Nonprofits galore; according to The Atlantic, in 2020 there were at least 461 nonprofits in America alone dedicated to fight climate change. That was 2020. That’s just America. Carbon offsetting has duped the world a lot more in the last few years.

Duped is an understatement.

“Of 2,000 major offset projects,” The Australia Institute wrote, “only 12 percent led to real emissions reductions.”

And this: “More than $700 million worth of Australian Carbon Credit Units [led] to ‘very little change,’” The Australia Institute wrote.

And this: “Californian forest offsets may have actually increased emissions,” The Australia Institute wrote. 

And this: “Research shows that forestry carbon offsets based on flawed science,” The Australia Institute wrote.

That’s a drop in the bucket of scams the carbon offset movement has produced. And it’s an open secret. It’s an open secret that is depressing the economies of governments around the world — including in America, when Democrats dominate the political scene and environmental radicals are free to press their nonsense into policy.

Thankfully, this White House follows the science. 

And the science clearly shows climate offsetting as one of the biggest scams of the century.

Global revenue from emissions trading, according to the International Carbon Action Partnership, surpassed $74 billion in 2023 — and California alone has raised over $14 billion in emissions trading since 2012. Other estimates point to the potential of an annual $800 billion business in carbon offsets.

Yet “most carbon offsets don’t actually reduce emissions,” Sentient Media wrote in February.

If that’s not a con — then what is?

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.