The Business Travel Association (BTA) has issued a damning assessment of carbon offset practices and demanded government regulation to “annihilate the uncertainty of the carbon offsetting process”.
The BTA urged the corporate travel sector to lobby for “strict offsetting targets and regulation” and demanded “consequences for those missing targets and breaking rules”.
The calls came in a BTA report, ‘Carbon Offsetting: Beyond the Trees’, published in July. But they appear timely, with a new government now in office and ahead of an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) assembly in Montreal next week that should endorse a long-term global target for carbon reduction in aviation.
The report’s conclusions are sobering in light of the current reliance on offsets to mitigate carbon emissions from travel.
Launching the report, BTA chief executive Clive Wratten insisted: “Offsetting is no longer good enough.”
He suggested carbon offsetting “is relied upon as a method of environmental guilt mitigation” and argued: “[The] focus must turn to carbon reduction, education, accurate measurement and regulation of offsetting.”
Crucially, the BTA argues that offsetting “is too often considered and implemented as the first solution” and insists: “We must change to position offsetting as the last resort.”
The report concludes: “The government’s current carbon offsetting guidelines are unclear and there is a need for standardised practices across all industries. Stricter measurement and offsetting regulations must be introduced.”
It notes concerns about “the legitimacy of carbon offsetting brokers” and concludes: “Governments must act to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of carbon offsetting.”
However, the BTA is also critical of poor industry practice, noting: “The guise of carbon offsetting has allowed companies to continue unsustainable behaviour under the illusion they are working against climate change when this is not the case.”
It suggests: “Organisations too often turn to blind, miscalculated offsetting practices.
“Companies need to do more to educate themselves, partners, and clients on carbon reporting. An accurate understanding of carbon offsetting is [often] lacking [which] results in . . . greenwashing.”