Buying in: taking stock of the role of carbon offsets in corporate carbon strategies
Among a group of nearly 2,000 companies that publicly disclosed data in 2015, 18% use offsetting as part of a carbon reduction strategy – including familiar household names such as L’Oréal, General Motors, and Delta Air Lines – according to a new report by Forest Trends’ Ecosystem Marketplace, “Buying in: Taking Stock of the Role of Carbon Offsets in Corporate Carbon Strategies.” Some of these brands have very real operational concerns that drive them to fight climate change. Sportswear manufacturer PUMA worries that weather changes and temperature extremes could affect its cotton farmers. In the tech sector, global warming might increase the cost of cooling large data centers for businesses like Google and Microsoft. Delta anticipates that since higher temperatures decrease air density, climate change may increasingly force their planes to carry lighter loads (e.g., fewer passengers), leading to a drop in revenue.