BP-Owned Carbon "Offset" Company's Assets Based Largely On Forests In No Danger Of Being Logged

Some forest carbon offsets sold by the biggest offsetting company in the United States offer little or no benefit to the climate, a satellite analysis has found. Finite Carbon, created in 2009 and bought by British multinational oil and gas giant BP in 2020, is responsible for more than a quarter of the total U.S. carbon credits, which it says it generates from protecting more than 60 “high credibility, high integrity projects” across 4 million acres.

However, experts at the offsets ratings agency Renoster and the nonprofit CarbonPlan analyzed three projects accounting for almost half of Finite Carbon’s total credits, with an estimated market value of $334 million, according to analysis by market intelligence company AlliedOffsets. Renoster found issues, including trees in a project in the Alaskan Panhandle that were likely never in danger of being cut down in an already extensively logged area. Of the credits Renoster looked at, they found that around 79% should not have been issued.

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Finite’s Sealaska project in the Alaskan Panhandle says it is protecting 165,000 acres of forest. The project is owned by Sealaska, a for-profit company created in 1972 and owned by Alaska Natives. The credits this project has generated are valued at over $100 million, according to analysis by Allied Offsets. Using satellite imagery, Renoster found that trees there face little to no risk of ever being cut down. That’s because the corporation has already logged the vast majority of the land around the project. The only trees still standing are in deep ravines, along roadsides, rivers and coastlines.

Instead of including the deforested land, Finite drew circles around thousands of tiny areas where trees were still standing, creating a hugely complicated map. In one of the project’s areas, Finite had circled fewer than 50 trees on a tiny island off the coast. Renoster’s satellite analysis concluded: “They are not at risk of deforestation and thus should not be receiving credits.” While this approach may be within the rules in California, where the credits are sold, it undermines the spirit of the regulations, Renoster concluded. Renoster gave the project a score of zero, meaning it thinks it should not be issued any credits.

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https://floodlightnews.org/bp-owned-company-is-selling-carbon-credits/