Carbon offset groups hit back over ‘snake oil salesman’ slur
Carbon offset groups have hit back at Easyjet over its ‘snake oil salesman’ slur about their industry (see yesterday’s story).
Director Mike Rigby from co2balance.com, part of the CarbonZero Group, told Travelmole.com: “I really don’t think easyjet has thought this through and deserves to be taken to task for mounting an attack on everyone else when their own proposals appear to be so poor.
“People in glasshouses. I think this deserves some searching questions.”
In a letter to EasyJet’s communications director Toby Nicol, Rigby said the airline’s broad generalisation “can only damage the credibility of the whole offset market which you are now seeking to join.”
“Sure, there are examples of poor standards and poor projects but there is no evidence that this is widespread,” said Rigby.
He said Certified Emissions Reduction (CERs), which Easyjet appears to have plumped for, are actually higher cost per tonne than projects, like those run by co2balance.com, that it has rejected as being ‘too expensive’.
“You are also ignoring the very high transaction costs of having projects approved under the Clean Development Mechanism, which can mean that for smaller projects, a low percentage of the funds goes to the project,” he told Nicol.
“If in fact you are intending to buy Phase 1 EU Emissions Allowance (which are indeed much cheaper than the product provided by most offset organisations), rather than CERs then you will no doubt be aware that these have been near-universally discredited, which is why they are so cheap.
“You should also be aware that most CER-generating projects have little or no co-benefits such as community health and safety and cost benefits, which is why none of our clients want us to supply them.
“They are industrial in scale and nature rather than community-based and merely increase the profitability of, for example, Indian steel plants rather than helping some of the poorest people on earth as our additional projects do.”
He pointed to one example, recently highlighted by the Times newspaper, where the actual amount of money going to the project is only 2% of the value of the credits sold.
“This is snake oil salesmanship of Pythonesque proportions yet you believe that this is better than our low administration cost projects!”
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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