‘Greenwash a polluter’

Carbon offset programs have faced growing criticism: a variety of studies and articles find they often inflate the climate benefits from projects, and that purchasing them can amount to a form of corporate “greenwashing.”

An investigative piece by the Guardian and other outlets earlier this year raised questions about the reliability of Verra’s rainforest offset projects. It was based on scientific analyses concluding that among the projects assessed, more than 90% of the credits likely “do not represent genuine carbon reductions.” 

Verra strongly disputed the findings. 

Millard-Ball says the generous way of looking at Rivian’s proposal is that the market for voluntary offsets is basically unreliable and “performative” anyway. One could simply think of the money that individuals and companies spend on them, seeking to feel better about their behavior or market themselves as climate friendly, as a kind of financial subsidy to support the development of the EV industry and charging infrastructure. In that reading, it becomes less important for the carbon math to balance out perfectly between parties.

“But that’s not the sales pitch of the carbon offset industry,” he says. Moreover, it’s also not the way many buyers of carbon credits think of them. Major corporations, including oil and gas giants, are using them as a literal, ton-for-ton way to address significant shares of their ongoing greenhouse-gas emissions. 

When those credits don’t represent real improvements over the status quo, it means companies aren’t making the emissions progress claimed, even as they put off the harder work of cleaning up their business practices in the face of mounting global climate threats.

Aneel Nazareth, a Texas resident who recently purchased a Rivian SUV and home charger, reviewed his paperwork at the request of MIT Technology Review and didn’t find any wording about “environmental attributes.” He was of two minds about the company’s proposal to earn carbon credits for chargers.

“I think that the purpose of incentives is to get people to do things that they wouldn’t otherwise have done. I’m going to charge my Rivian at home. That’s true whether or not I have a Rivian-branded charger,” he wrote in an email. “So it seems suspect to reward them with a carbon credit that they can then sell to greenwash a polluter.”

But he also stressed that EVs can make a big difference in vehicle emissions. He noted that using his Rivian R1S to haul a travel trailer during a recent camping trip cost him about $30 in electricity, while that drive would have previously required around $100 worth of gas.

“If carbon credits bring a shift to EVs a little closer, I guess I’m for them,” he said. “Without shifts like that, we’re doomed.”