PG&E carbon offsets come from protected forests

[Renae]

For every bit of energy a Pacific Gas & Electric ratepayer uses - from turning on a vacuum cleaner to powering up a computer or heating up an oven - a little part of a tree or forest is saved to erase the carbon sins of the customer. The voluntary program costs participants about $60 a year.

But the company isn't telling its customers one crucial fact: Those forests were purchased years ago by a Virginia conservation group that used nearly $50 million in loans and grants from California taxpayers. The Conservation Fund then sold PG&E carbon credits on land it had purchased for preservation and selective logging.



Read more: PG&E carbon offsets come from protected forests

But Vic, what does all this MEAN?

The ClimateSmart program highlights the complex and murky relationships among big business, state regulators and conservation groups working on climate change - a relatively new and untested system in which a huge amount of money is traded without much public scrutiny.

Just follow the money folks... just follow the money.

 

[Deuce]

Wouldn't a carbon offset require actually planting trees rather than just not cutting them?

 

[Renae]

Wouldn't a carbon offset require actually planting trees rather than just not cutting them?

Read the story duece.

Here's how the scam works. People actually pay the power company to protect all ready protected trees...

 

[Deuce]

Read the story duece.

Here's how the scam works. People actually pay the power company to protect all ready protected trees...

Right. Which makes it not an offset at all and the company is cheating these people.