Increasingly criticised by civil society organisations and the media around the world, forest carbon offsetting can play an important role in the current climate crisis. This is the message of the recent release by the Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), which warns against abandoning forest carbon offsetting schemes such as REDD+.

One of the most controversial forest carbon offset projects in Africa is that of the oil company TotalEnergies in Congo. In this country in the heart of the Congo Basin, the French giant has begun planting a 40,000-hectare forest on the Batéké Plateau. However, in December 2022, the French news website Mediapart revealed internal Congolese government documents and testimonies proving that TotalEnergies appropriated farmers’ land without their free consent. This affair has reopened the debate on greenwashing and, more generally, on forest carbon offsetting.

Forest carbon offsetting was originally conceived as a way to offset the emissions of individuals and companies seeking to reduce their carbon footprint while mitigating the effects of climate change. But critics argue that it is “a form of greenwashing that serves to delay urgent climate action in the North, reduces forests to the mere value of their carbon, and, because of the considerable uncertainties about how to measure carbon, can lead to the production of ‘fantasy’ credits or even fraud,” says the Rainforest Foundation Fund.

The shortcomings of a ‘solution

According to the Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), forest carbon offsetting, particularly the REDD+ programme, can contribute to reducing deforestation and forest degradation. Implemented in recent years in several sub-Saharan African countries, notably in the Congo Basin and Madagascar, the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme is supported by development finance institutions such as the World Bank.