WHAT ARE CARBON OFFSETS?
HOW IT STARTED
The Carbon “Offsets” or “Credits” scam was born from an need to keep the profit margins of the oil industry from collapsing as older wells began to dry up.
Oil industry geologists discovered in the 1950s that in the future oil fields would be depleted, as the pressure dropped in rock formations oil would no longer flow. It was then that “enhanced oil recovery” technologies were developed to extend the life of depleted oil fields, using techniques such as fracking and also pumping carbon dioxide (CO2) into the old wells. These new technologies proved to be costly and in turn, reduced the large profit margins they were accustomed to. While claiming that they could capture and store the “dangerous” CO2, companies used public money to capture the CO2 needed for new these new methods of oil recovery.
HOW IT'S GOING
It did not take long for opportunists to figure out what a great deal the oil companies had managed to carve out for themselves and the business of carbon offsets has spread worldwide. There are many “red flags” evident in the global carbon market as it exists today and potential investors should be wary.
Worth approximately $118 billion, the industry has been compared to the “Wild, Wild West and there is no shortage of stories of investors who did not hesitate to drop hundreds, thousands, and even millions into such a questionable enterprise. Big business and governments have also been burned badly, investing in non-existent projects.
It is an industry that is full of corruption, bribery as well as money laundering. Debate surrounding the value of carbon offsets or arguments against climate change in general are routinely censored to protect this cash cow they have created. It is a more insidious form of “Green Washing” as investors try to virtue signal how environmentally conscious they are.
