Professor McAfee: Carbon Offsets Won't Stop Polluters

GLOBAL LANDSCAPE FORUM (INDONESIA) -- For Kathleen McAfee, a professor of International Relations at San Francisco State University, this is a concern. “The big polluters don’t have to change their emitting activity, and already there is an over-supply of carbon credits,” she says. “This makes the price to pollute very low, and without an adequate cap on the amount of emissions allowed they can keep spewing carbon into the atmosphere.”

Leakage, where carbon-intense activity is simply pushed to less regulated regions lacking oversight, is also an issue.

There needs to be a greater focus on accountability and on development of carbon-neutral activities, says McAfee.