By burning fossil fuels, humans release billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year. Plants naturally absorb these greenhouse gases to photosynthesize. But our overconsumption of energy, especially among the ultra-rich, is overwhelming this natural system and cooking the planet. If you want to cancel out these carbon emissions, why not just plant more trees?
That's a billion-dollar idea that birthed the carbon trading system in which companies or individuals can purchase carbon "offsets" like planting trees to balance out carbon emissions. It's ballooned into a $2 billion industry since it started some 35 years ago, but new research suggests many projects intended to offset deforestation aren't reaching the net-zero emissions they promise and are actually making climate change worse.
