Litigation Beginning To Challenge Carbon Offsets

Imagine an entity that is currently heavily dependent on fossil fuels pledging to become "net zero" by calendar year 2050. This is not unique, as numerous countries, municipalities and companies have made exactly this public pledge. The concern is that many will not achieve these pledges because they rely heavily on the use of carbon offsetting, employing offsets obtained (or to be obtained) from voluntary carbon markets (VCMs), which activists and othershave criticized as having dubious value. Even assuming all carbon offsets are perfectly accounted for, some have estimated that there are not, and will not be, enough of them available when the time comes to fulfill all of the outstanding pledges.