Are carbon offsets just permission for certain companies to pollute?
Under greenhouse gas regulations large polluting entities are required to purchase official government offsets from people who are undertaking emission reduction activities. This means that polluters are paying a fee to people who are cleaning the atmosphere. This can be a very expensive activity and over time the price for offsets increases, which in turn sends a price signal to polluters encouraging them to invest in clean technology. So purchasing carbon offsets doesn’t let polluters off the hook; in fact, it creates a revenue stream for the cleaning up the whole industry and encourages the development of clean technology & industrial processes.
