Understanding Carbon Offset Technologies

By Heather Lovell, D. Liverman. 2010

146 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In this article we unpack the ‘black box’ of carbon offsetting through a critical examination of the technologies and techniques that create carbon credits. Drawing on empirical research of compliance (Clean Development Mechanism) and voluntary carbon offset markets, we highlight the diversity of technologies, techniques and devices involved in carbon offsetting, ranging from refrigerant plants to systems of calculation and audit. We suggest that polarised debates for and against offsetting do not adequately reflect the considerable variations between types of offset project and governance practices in the compliance and voluntary offset markets. Using conceptual insights from governmentality theory and science and technology studies we assess the tensions in making standard, fungible carbon credits. In conclusion, we suggest attention to the technologies and materiality of carbon offsetting allows a fresh perspective on somewhat entrenched debates about the advantages and disadvantages of offsetting.

Subfields: Global and Planetary Change, Sociology and Political Science, Strategy and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4ae56e80183c2a88a308b6cf9d45f95bd13c117a

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In Global and Planetary Change

In Sociology and Political Science

In Strategy and Management

Citations in the corpus

EnergyVis: Interactively Tracking and Exploring Energy Consumption for ML Models (2021, background): “Secondly, carbon credits alone are an indirect—and occasionally ineffective—approach to reducing carbon output, as they require third-party verification, offset direct responsibility, and require monetary compensation, which might be impractical for smaller labs or companies [16].”
Virtual nature, violent accumulation: The ‘spectacular failure’ of carbon offsetting at a Ugandan National Park (2014, background): “This point should not be misunderstood as a methodological critique – we do not question that forests at least temporarily sequester carbon dioxide in the amounts estimated by project managers, although many analysts have raised salient technical issues related to carbon leakage and permanence (Ascu”
Governing the transition to renewable energy: A review of impacts and policy issues in the small hydropower boom (2017, background): “Mitigation efforts have been faulted for creating negative social outcomes, and failing to deliver on promised emissions reductions (Bumpus and Liverman, 2008; Lohmann, 2008; Lovell and Liverman, 2010).”