Far too often, good intentions yield bad results. Such is the case with carbon offsets. Carbon offsets are a type of token or credit companies can buy in order to “offset” the amount of carbon they produce. Each credit is  supposed to represent one metric ton of CO2 removed from the atmosphere. 

Unfortunately, carbon offsets don’t actually help the environment. Freshman Rosie Clemans-Cope said, “the point with carbon offsets is to reduce emissions in order to justify creating carbon emissions in another place,” which overall fails to resolve the issue. Since climate change will most likely be irreversible by only 2030, stopping all emissions possible is extremely important. Freshman Esha Sharma said, “it’s a BandAid on a bigger issue… we’re not making any real change.” Carbon offsets are an excuse for companies who continuously hurt the environment to pretend they care, feigning change in order to make money off of the destruction of our planet.  In fact, carbon offsets cause many problems. Over 90 percent of carbon offsets don’t do or help anything. 

Carbon offsets represent a 2 billion dollar industry – billions of dollars are being wasted on these useless measures despite the plethora of other places desperate for funding. Some websites like Vox have even compiled helpful lists. Biology teacher Mrs. Bessy Albaugh said, “our planet isn’t going to get any better if we keep doing things that are going to be ineffective in the long run.” Proponents of carbon offsets are throwing money at the problem, hoping nobody will notice they’re useless.

There are a variety of more effective ways to fight climate change. Clemans-Cope said, “We need to meet emissions goals… stop using fossil fuels, decarbonize all over the world. That starts with our community and our national government.” For example, companies can switch to more planet-conscious methods for businesses like clothing, food, and more. These more sustainable and effective methods deserve more funding and support than vague and useless measures like carbon offsets. 

For these multi-million dollar companies, our environment is not the priority. Recently, the company JP Morgan, a financial services company, bought up 250,000 acres of land to sell as carbon offsets. Their motivations only involve their profits; they’re using carbon offsets to try to convince people that they’re “environmentally conscious” so that people keep employing their services and putting money into their already overflowing pockets. They want people to focus on their misleading attempts to “go green,” and not on how shamelessly they’re destroying our planet. Sharma said, “they want to look really good, but they’re not actually wanting to fix anything or try to make a substantial change within [their] company.” Companies using carbon offsets want to act like they care about the environment when the reality is that they are not doing anything.

JP Morgan isn’t even the first company to use carbon offsets.  Oak Hill Advisors LP, a corporate-debt investor, bought 1.7 million acres for 1.8 billion dollars in order to sell for carbon offsets. Many companies specializing in air travel will actually include small fees in order to use carbon offsets. What these companies fail to understand is that climate change is not a business, it’s a humanitarian movement. Saving our planet should not require a monetary incentive – people, and corporations, should join the fight against climate change with the desire to help the greater good even if they don’t directly receive anything in return. 

It’s glaringly obvious that climate change needs much more attention from the corporations that are its main cause. Company policy should focus on saving our planet and thus our people, rather than human greed. As the irreversible destruction of our earth creeps closer and closer, companies and our government need to develop stronger and more effective methods that truly focus on eradicating climate change and not filling the pockets of greedy corporations.