NextGen's 'Landmark' Carbon Capture Credit Purchase Condemned as Total 'Scam'

“Carbon offset markets are widely discredited. Their only benefit is to enrich the middlemen charged with selling the lie.” A leading US green group on Wednesday dismissed a major carbon offset deal as a “fraud”, stressing the ineffectiveness of such schemes in reducing emissions. NextGen - a joint venture between Swiss carbon finance consultancy South Pole and Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation - has announced a "groundbreaking" purchase of nearly 200,000 tonnes of carbon credits from three projects. These include the US direct air capture project – a technology that extracts carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere – and a Finnish producer of biochar, a black carbon substance derived from biomass. NextGen chairman Philip Moss said the deal "provides an opportunity for the oil and gas sector to transition to cleaner activities". While some scientists argue that CO2 extraction, either through natural or technological means, is necessary to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement, opponents call the technology a "false climate solution." According to Food & Water Wath: Carbon offset markets have repeatedly been exposed as fraudulent, ineffective schemes that contribute little to reducing emissions. Likewise, carbon dioxide removal has been shown to fail. Direct air capture produces 2.2 to 3.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent for every tonne captured, while an ethanol capture facility in Illinois, which is often offered as a proof of concept, has increased emissions since installing the technology in 2017. Carbon offset markets are widely discredited. Their only benefit is to enrich middlemen charged with selling the lie — the NextGen scheme is no different,” Food & Water Watch policy director Jim Walsh said in a statement. "Carbon capture is a costly and inefficient distraction from the real work of transitioning away from dirty fossil fuels and biofuels." (Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams)