When Greta Thunberg slams ‘greenwashing’ at COP26, what does she mean?
- Teen activist Greta Thunberg attacks CO2 offset projects as ‘greenwashing’ at Glasgow climate talks
- Offsets are a way for buyers to continue polluting while essentially paying someone else to adopt climate-friendly behaviours
Thunberg and other activists from Greenpeace and the Indigenous Environmental Network interrupted a panel on carbon offsets to protest about “greenwashing” and the dangers of relying on the credits to compensate for emissions.
Her presence drew a crush of people outside the meeting space despite social distancing rules. The Swedish environmentalist sat at the back of the room listening. Half an hour into the panel discussion, she walked out, shouting “no more greenwashing”.
Before the panel started on Wednesday she tweeted that fossil fuel companies and banks are trying to “give polluters a free pass to keep polluting”.
Today’s free-for-all market has emerged in part from the repeated failure of governments to agree on rules for a United Nations-organised trade of carbon offsets among countries. Negotiators in Glasgow will make yet another attempt at finalising rules.
As Thunburg left, another activist took the microphone. “Carbon offsets mean climate sabotage,” said Teresa Anderson, climate policy coordinator at ActionAid International. “They aren’t just a tool to greenwash climate inaction and delay the transformation we need, they’re also going to drive devastating land grabs in the Global South.”