Pardon My Carbon

Yet another article notes the, ah, uncertainties surrounding the use of "carbon offsets."  This time, the New York Times reports that the the FTC is looking into the sales of carbon pardons, saying that there is the "potential for deception."

In other words, it’s maybe kind of … a scam. Possibly?

The Federal Trade Commission, which regulates advertising claims, raised the question Tuesday in its first hearing in a series on green marketing, this one focusing on carbon offsets.

As more companies use offset programs to create an environmental halo over their products, the commission said it was growing increasingly concerned that some green marketing assertions were not substantiated.

Not that this exactly counts as news.   The Washington Post looked at the practice of selling carbon offsets not too long ago and found that:

In some cases, these customers may be buying good feelings and little else. A closer look reveals an unregulated market in which some improvements bought by customers are only estimated, extrapolated, hoped-for or nil.

But that hasn’t stopped carbon absolution, as Ron Bailey calls it, from becoming a $54 million market. And it hasn’t stopped misguided attempts to make Congress’s House of Representatives carbon neutral. But hey, if it’s good enough for Al Gore…