Mozambique: Taking the Credit? 25-minutes, 2009 (Ref: 759)
Carbon offsetting is a
modern-day phenomenon – turning big polluters into
environmentalists. It’s about heavy industry –
mostly in the developed world - buying credits to
offset the pollution it creates by exceeding its
carbon emissions limit. It’s a multi-billion dollar
industry, but at grass-roots level it’s helping to
regenerate parts of the developing world by planting
trees and creating business opportunities. One such
place is Mozambique, where carbon offsetting has
brought together an unlikely alliance of a celebrity
agency in LA, a hedge fund investor in London and a
Burger Chain empire in Sweden. They have been drawn
together by the UK-based company Envirotrade, which
sells carbon offsets to businesses and individuals
to support the conservation and management of
existing forests and the planting of new ones. These
three companies offset the 27,000 tonnes of carbon
they produce each year, by planting 90,000 trees in
Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. In Taking the
Credit we follow the flow of money from companies
who are voluntarily buying offsets, from the City of
London to the small farmers who maintain the trees.
