LETTER: Carbon offsets need to benefit society
Article highlights how social, economic and environmental development objectives can be hijacked by protective interests
Anton Cartwright’s opinion piece “Guidelines for carbon tax offsets a lost opportunity to tackle inequality”, January 14, is an excellent overview on how social, economic and environmental development objectives can be hijacked by protective interests — whether foreign, monied, political, etc — as is potentially the case with the carbon offset policy that is part and parcel of SA’s future carbon tax landscape. I applaud Cartwright’s call for a locally-relevant and affordable carbon offset standard to guide SA’s carbon offset potential. Carbon offsets must have a net positive societal impact. It must also, however, be highlighted that such standards need to be well-defined and transparent. We have already seen in the drawn-out development of the carbon tax — due for implementation in June 2019 — numerous interest groups trying to minimise the financial responsibility to society that they should be carrying as heavy greenhouse gas emitters. Imagine what they will try to do to get away...
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