Green Pulse Ep 53: Carbon offsets: Are they credit-able? (Part 1)

15:00 mins

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

Carbon credits have been around for many years, but they have recently gained traction amid the global decarbonisation effort.  Such credits, or offsets, essentially allow emitters to pay others to reduce emissions on their behalf. But how credible are such schemes? What are the benefits and potential pitfalls of relying on carbon credits to slash the amount of planet-warming emissions being emitted into the atmosphere? Do they give companies a license to continue emitting?

In the first of a two-part series on carbon credits, The Straits Times environment correspondent Audrey Tan and climate change editor David Fogarty discuss the issue with Professor Koh Lian Pin, head of the Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions at the National University of Singapore. 

They discuss the following points:

1. What are the sources of carbon credits? (1:09) 
2. Singapore plans to set up a marketplace for “high quality” carbon credits later this year. What exactly does “high quality” mean? (2:36) 
3. What does the term “additionality” mean? (3:48) 
4. Why are standards important? (6:13) 
5. What is the track record of other carbon credit projects? (8:28)
6. Why carbon credits from nature-based climate solutions are important. (11:22) 
7. Do carbon credits give emitters the license to continue polluting? (12:20) 

Listen to Pt 2: How carbon credits can help save tropical forests: https://omny.fm/shows/green-pulse-1/how-carbon-credits-can-help-save-tropical-forests

Published Jul 19, 2021 12:00 AM

Produced by: Audrey Tan (audreyt@sph.com.sg), David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis & Adam Azlee

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

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