Offsetting is ‘a distraction’ that will not meet reduction targets

The reputation of ‘carbon offsetting’ as a legitimate way to reduce environmental impact suffered a further blow last month when a leading on-line environmental travel company removed the option for its customers to offset their carbon emissions. Responsibletravel.com was one of the first travel promoters to offer its customers the chance to pay for environmental projects to offset the emissions caused by their trips, but now it says offsetting is a distraction from the need to reduce emissions as ‘it allows people to behave in the same way or worse’. A spokeswoman for the company said, ‘Too often offsets are used by the tourism industry to justify growth plans on the basis that money will be donated to projects in developing countries – global reduction targets will not be met this way.’