What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the findings reported by the Guardian, the German weekly Die Zeit and SourceMaterial on the effectiveness of the carbon off-setting of Verra’s rainforest schemes and its impact on the zero-carbon pathway in Wales?
We have made no assessment of the effectiveness of the carbon off-setting of Verra’s rainforest schemes. However, it has no impact on our statutory net zero pathway in Wales. We have already confirmed that we will not be utilising offsets towards our first, or second carbon budget periods and already have a legislative framework that sets out a number of checks and balances around the types and levels of any potential use of offsets in relation to our legislative net zero target.
However, we welcome the research, which was developed by a number of researchers including Professor Julia Jones from Bangor University. It is right to highlight the importance of ensuring any offset schemes are robust and credible.