Tonight I appeared as a technical expert in a BBC ONE Documentary called “Big Brands’ Green Claims Uncovered” which tells a story about some of the challenges and opportunities in today’s carbon market. I agreed to take part in this film to try to facilitate a constructive dialogue about recent carbon market debates. I’ll post a longer reflection tomorrow but a few segments below:
⚖ I thought it was important to make a distinction that credits don’t have to be used as offsets...
"What we are doing with credits is we're saying I want to help someone in another part of the world reduce or remove carbon. In principle, that's a very good thing. But if you're using that credit generated to offset your own emissions, to say, I'm going to pay someone else to remove or reduce, [while I continue emitting], then that's a very different thing."
🌲 That we need to protect nature to meet net zero...
“Rainforests today are like the lungs of the earth. They are our life support in this climate crisis. It's critically important that we keep existing rich ecosystems like rainforests intact, because they store far more carbon than we ever could if we just started planting trees everywhere.”
❌ And I said I wouldn’t do the film if I couldn't make a point about how critical it is we avoid cynicism and hold firm to climate targets, even as hard, and scary as all this is:
"One of my biggest fears in this discussion about the problems in the carbon market is that people will just get cynical and turn away and stop trying to make and meet net zero targets. It is critical that we actually do that work."
In many ways this was a difficult film to participate in and watch, with so many layers of nuance. I am grateful to the curious crew that asked me hundreds of questions in the making, and I hope that, even as it reveals controversy, it also inspires new thinking on ways to improve governance of net zero claims and carbon markets.
My key take aways: We can’t sacrifice on any of the triple bottom line to:
1. Empower and listen to local communities
2. Preserve nature &
3. Reduce our own emissions
