Carbon credits are literally going up in smoke as wildfires threaten their sustainability

illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on Fortune or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: The Park Fire in Northern California, one of the largest in the state's history, has burned through nearly 430,000 acres, endangering millions of carbon credits designed to offset greenhouse gases
• Over 45,000 acres of forests involved in California’s carbon offset program have been destroyed, jeopardizing credits owned by Sierra Pacific Industries and purchased by companies like Tricor Refinery and Rainbow Energy Marketing

🔭 The context: California’s cap-and-trade program issues carbon credits to forest landowners who set aside land to absorb CO2
• These credits can be sold to polluters to offset emissions
• The program includes a "buffer pool" of credits to insure against disasters like fires, but the rapid depletion of this pool due to frequent wildfires has raised concerns about its long-term sustainability

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: As wildfires intensify due to climate change, the effectiveness of carbon offset programs is under threat
• If the buffer pool is depleted, it could undermine efforts to offset carbon emissions, challenging the viability of carbon markets and climate mitigation strategies

⏭️ What's next: Researchers and experts suggest revising the methodology for assessing fire risk and increasing the number of credits allocated to the buffer pool
• Without these changes, the program may face greater risks and liabilities in the future

💬 One quote: "I’m concerned that the buffer pool has significantly underestimated the risk of wildfire," said Grayson Badgley, a researcher at CarbonPlan

📈 One stat: A 2022 analysis found that California had used 95%-114% of the 6 million credits earmarked for fire risk over the next 100 years; the current usage is estimated at 11 million

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