The Not-Zero Asset Owners Alliance: Pushing offsetting only undermines climate action

The statement criticizes the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (AOA) for its 'The Net in Net Zero' paper, which encourages asset owners to scale investment in offsets and negative emissions technologies. The author contends that this focus shifts attention away from the necessary deep decarbonization and the phase-down of fossil fuel production. The text highlights the failure of previous offsetting schemes, such as the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and argues that current efforts by the AOA and the Task Force on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM) will replicate these flaws. It concludes that asset owners should follow the International Energy Agency's (IEA) 'Net Zero by 2050' report by stopping investments in new oil and gas projects.

• The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (AOA) is criticized for prioritizing investment in offsets and negative emissions technologies over the restriction of investments in fossil fuel supply and use.
• Carbon offsetting is presented as unreliable, citing Shell's lack of transparency regarding forest planting and a study of California's forest offsets program where approximately one-third of 100 million assessed credits were likely fake due to systematic underestimates of existing carbon.
• The author argues that governance cannot fix the inherent flaws of offsetting, citing the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as a failure that generated 1.6 billion tons of offsets, 85% of which would have occurred without CDM income, potentially increasing CO2 emissions by up to 1.36 billion tons.
• The document asserts that the AOA should align its actions with the International Energy Agency's (IEA) 'Net Zero by 2050' report, which states that a 1.5° carbon budget allows no room for new investments in fossil fuel supply.

APA

admin (2021). The Not-Zero Asset Owners Alliance: Pushing offsetting only undermines climate action. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/10/01/the-not-zero-asset-owners-alliance-pushing-offsetting-only-undermines-climate-action/

Chicago

admin. The Not-Zero Asset Owners Alliance: Pushing offsetting only undermines climate action. Reclaim Finance, 2021. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/10/01/the-not-zero-asset-owners-alliance-pushing-offsetting-only-undermines-climate-action/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=admin |title=The Not-Zero Asset Owners Alliance: Pushing offsetting only undermines climate action |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=1 October 2021 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/10/01/the-not-zero-asset-owners-alliance-pushing-offsetting-only-undermines-climate-action/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{admin2021notzero, author = {admin}, title = {{The Not-Zero Asset Owners Alliance: Pushing offsetting only undermines climate action}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/10/01/the-not-zero-asset-owners-alliance-pushing-offsetting-only-undermines-climate-action/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }