Carbon offsets don’t reduce emissions—they just shift responsibility. These schemes allow major polluters to continue business as usual by investing in carbon-absorbing projects elsewhere. They often lead to the violent displacement of Indigenous and local communities living in the world’s most biodiverse and vulnerable ecosystems–clearing the way for further extraction in the lungs of the Earth.
As global leaders meet at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia to evaluate carbon offset policies, the Red Natural History Fellows cohort of scholar-activists have penned an open letter calling for a moratorium on carbon offsets.Â
Sign this petition to add your voice to the growing call: we need real solutions, not false fixes, for climate justice.
Petition for a Moratorium on Carbon Offsets
PETITION LANGUAGE
To Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change:
“As COP16 and COP29 convene, I am deeply concerned that carbon offsetting policies remain central to the UN’s climate strategies, despite clear evidence of their harm and ineffectiveness. These policies allow polluters to claim environmental leadership without addressing the root causes of climate change.
Carbon offsets have a track record of displacing Indigenous and other local communities, enabling exploitative land grabs. Since the introduction of REDD in 2007, emissions have continued to rise, forests are being destroyed, communities are being devastated, and vulnerable ecosystems are under severe pressure.
The carbon offset initiatives now advancing under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement risk sparking another global land grab. According to GRAIN, over 9 million hectares—equivalent to the size of Portugal—have already been earmarked for carbon credits since 2016, often impacting the poor while generating billions for investors.
I join the growing chorus of voices calling for an immediate moratorium on carbon offsets. We must reject carbon colonialism and demand that governments and corporations take genuine responsibility for restoring our air, water, and land.”
