Carbon Credit Scheme Will Fail Future Generations by Green Lighting Big Emitters

The Wilderness Society opposes today's move by Federal and NSW Labor to greenlight a new carbon crediting scheme which will allow big emitters to continue polluting. 

The Wilderness Society is calling for native forests to be protected continent-wide, without offsetting, which allows big emitters to continue to drive the climate and biodiversity crises. 

There are clear climate and ecological benefits from protecting forests, but if these benefits are sold off as carbon credits to the biggest emitters, then any real carbon abatement is negated.

The integrity gaps and loopholes in this method are too big to ignore: allowing state-based logging agencies to be proponents, and selling credits to big emitters is nonsensical, and does not achieve the objectives of genuine carbon abatement. 

An industry that created the climate and biodiversity crises cannot pay their way out of real emission reductions. This method fails nature and climate, and must be scrapped altogether.

Tasmanian Forest Campaigner for The Wilderness Society Hughie Nicklason said “we can protect forests without monetising nature. Carbon credit schemes in Australia have repeatedly been decried as a sham. Allowing big emitters to continue polluting doesn’t pass the pub test - this bill will fail nature and future generations.” 

NSW Campaigns Manager for The Wilderness Society Sascha Hawkins said “commodifying nature is an existential threat to genuine climate action. Nature must be protected for the inherent ecological and cultural values it holds, not as a get out of jail free card for big polluters.”