The Carbon Conspiracy: How Companies are Ripping Us Off with Fake Sustainability
Are corporations really committed to saving the planet, or is their obsession with carbon removal just a clever ploy to maintain their destructive ways?
As the world struggles to address climate change, companies are investing heavily in "newfangled" ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But who’s checking to make sure these tactics actually work? The answer is, nobody – or at least, not nobody with any real power or authority.
Enter the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative (CRSI), a supposedly independent organization that’s supposed to set standards for the emerging carbon removal industry. But scratch beneath the surface, and you’ll find that CRSI is backed by none other than Bill Gates’ climate investment firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. And Microsoft, one of CRSI’s biggest funders, has just made a record-breaking purchase from Occidental’s carbon removal project in Texas – despite its own carbon footprint growing by 30% since it made a pledge to reach negative carbon emissions.
Is it any wonder that some environmental groups are skeptical about the true motives behind carbon removal? For years, companies have been promising to reduce their carbon footprint, only to continue pumping out pollution and destroying the planet. And now, they’re using carbon removal as a way to offset their guilt – all while raking in billions of dollars in profits.
The problem is, carbon removal can look like many different things – from filtering CO2 out of the air to pumping it into the ocean. But while it might sound green on paper, the reality is that these technologies are often little more than a way for companies to claim they’re doing something about climate change while continuing to do what they’ve always done.
And who’s supposed to hold them accountable? The answer is, nobody – or at least, not nobody with any real power or authority. That’s why CRSI’s bottom-up approach to standardization is little more than a joke. With corporate interests driving the agenda, how can we trust that carbon removal will actually make a difference?
Khan, the founder of CRSI, says that carbon removal needs to grow beyond being a tool for companies to use to try to make up for their pollution. That means capturing carbon for the climate’s sake, without necessarily having to sell credits to companies that haven’t managed to slash their emissions. But how can we trust that’s what will happen when corporate interests are driving the agenda?
In the end, the real question is: what’s the true cost of carbon removal? Is it a viable solution to the climate crisis, or just another way for corporations to maintain their destructive ways and keep profiting off the planet?
Author: Kayitsi.com
