Australian councils told to cut emissions rather than spend millions on overseas carbon offsets

Waste from domestic bins in Brisbane. Critics wonder why councils are using offsets rather than reducing their emissions. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

Renewed questions are being asked about Australian councils’ use of international projects to offset local carbon emissions, off the back of a Guardian investigation that found 90% of rainforest credits issued by one leading company were likely worthless.

The research into Verra, a world leader in the rapidly growing voluntary offsets market, found that the majority of rainforest offset credits were likely “phantom credits” and do not represent genuine carbon reductions.