Episoder
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Carbon offsets have been the center of some high profile scandals over the past few years, but what else is there to these stories? Why does the voluntary carbon market exist and how do we know if carbon offsets are actually making a difference? Tune in to Life in the Greenhouse to learn about all the shades of green in the carbon offset market.
Show Notes:
0:53 ClimeCo: https://shop.climeco.com/offset/air-travel/
3:50 Carbon Accounting, Reporting, and Management Lab at Northern Arizona University: https://carml.rc.nau.edu/about/
10:10 Refrigerant destruction: https://www.recoolit.com/
11:45 Oil derricks in CA: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/oil-derricks-california-old-photos/
12:26 Over half a million oil derricks in the US: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29709-3
12:54 Oil well shut down: https://www.carbonpath.io/
18:01 Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market âThe 10 Core Carbon Principlesâ: https://icvcm.org/the-core-carbon-principles/
19:11 Project Protocol: https://ghgprotocol.org/project-protocol
23:37 âIn Juneau, Alaska, a carbon offset project thatâs actually workingâ Grist, January 2024 (subtitle: Visiting Alaska is an emissions-heavy prospect. An innovative program has tourists ease that by helping buy heat pumps for locals.)
29:47 The Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle The New Yorker 10/16/2023, about South Pole (company) and a great history of carbon credits plus the Zimbabwe Kariba project
34:06 Revealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest certifier are worthless, analysis shows Guardian 1/18/2023, about studies into Verra, the world's leading offset certifier
37:38 Oil companies relying on carbon offsets: https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/carbon-offsets-2023/companies.html
38:55 Oxy claimed a shipload of crude oil was entirely carbon neutral: https://www.reuters.com/article/climatechange-fossilfuels-offsets-insigh-idINKBN2C31AO/
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Countless companies, including fossil fuel companies, have pledged to achieve net zero emissions. This sounds like great news! But thereâs more to the story. Weâre talking about what net zero really means and how a company could actually get there while explaining the importance of the Science-Based Targets Initiative.
Show Notes:
2:00 The â Carbon Accounting, Reporting, and Management Labâ (CARML) at Northern Arizona University
8:12 2015 Paris Agreement, relevance to the history of net-zero targets, net-zero targets cover 91% of global economy: Net Zero: A short history
14:50 Net Zero Tracker
16:12 Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi)
20:03 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changeâs (IPCCâs) special report, âGlobal Warming of 1.5 ÂșCâ
21:21 SBTi policy on fossil fuel companies
26:21 article about the CO2 pipeline failure in Satartia, Mississippi: âThe U.S. is expanding CO2 pipelines. One poisoned town wants you to know its storyâ from NPR
27:25 ExxonMobil highlighting enhanced oil recovery
27:35 Oxy and net-zero oil
31:05 Net Zero Tracker report Ross references
35:20 List (dashboard) of companies with net-zero targets that the SBTi has validated
35:40 CDP
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Mangler du episoder?
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Extreme Makeover: The Oil and Gas Edition is afoot. The companies weâve long known as fossil fuel companies are telling us theyâre actually energy companies committed to finding solutions to climate change. Weâre not so sure, so weâre parsing it out using greenhouse gas accounting and discussing the concept of emission scopes along the way.
Show Notes:
1:40 The Carbon Accounting, Reporting, and Management Lab (CARML) at Northern Arizona University
2:46 âAnd because we are so dependent on these fossil fuels, we consume A LOTâjust take oil for example. Around the world humans burn about 4.2 billion gallons of oil every single day.
4:36 Current concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaiâi
6:42 Keeling Curve
12:57 Drilled podcast homepage
Petroganda: Drilledâs series on âThe fossil fuel industryâs favorite narratives.â This is the series we reference in Episode One when Erica says âYou can check out another great podcast called Drilled for fantastic reporting about how oil & gas companies, particularly ExxonMobile, have a long history of spreading misinformation about climate change.18:12 "Most captured CO2 is used in enhanced oil recovery" 2022 IEEFA analysis
18:40 â[T]ools we can use to investigate the question of branding claims vs. realityâ
Paper: Li M, Trencher G, Asuka J (2022) The clean energy claims of BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell: A mismatch between discourse, actions and investments. PLoS ONE 17(2): e0263596. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263596 This examination of oil majorsâ discourse, business strategies, and financials concluded: âWe found a strong increase in discourse related to âclimateâ, âlow-carbonâ and âtransitionâ, especially by BP and Shell. Similarly, we observed increasing tendencies toward strategies related to decarbonization and clean energy. But these are dominated by pledges rather than concrete actions. Moreover, the financial analysis reveals a continuing business model dependence on fossil fuels along with insignificant and opaque spending on clean energy. We thus conclude that the transition to clean energy business models is not occurring, since the magnitude of investments and actions does not match discourse. Until actions and investment behavior are brought into alignment with discourse, accusations of greenwashing appear well-founded. âOil Companies Are Trying to Rebrand Themselves on Social Mediaâ Reporting from the Natural Resources Defense Council contrasting oil companiesâ ad campaigns with how they spend their lobbying dollars, from 201921:53 âFor example, burning one gallon of gasoline in a motor vehicle results in about 20 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.â See the EPAâs GHG Emission Factors Hub.
31:35 âToday, we're zooming in on ExxonMobil's recent $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Gas in October 2023.â
35:43 The Climate Registry emission factors (2023)
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Climate change is a problem driven by fossil fuels. And yet, companies weâve long known as producers of fossil fuels are rebranding themselves as key players in the fight against climate change, all while spending billions of dollars exploring for more oil & gas. Weâll spend our first season examining this rebrand using greenhouse gas accounting as our investigative tool.
