A fast-growing industry is paying farmers millions of dollars to store carbon in soils. But some doubt that the science to support such efforts is ready for prime time. And the debate has become surprisingly heated. My feature for Science Magazine science.org/content/articl…

New reporting indicates that the Warm Springs offset project, which burned in the Lionshead fire back in 2020, might be headed toward termination. Hal Bernton OPB (1/3) opb.org/article/2023/0…

This could produce an entirely different set of problems: #Hilary could cause (directly) severe flash flood risk in the Mojave Desert and (indirectly) extreme fire weather (amidst lots of ongoing wildfire activity) in the PacNW. #CAwx #ORwx #WAwx #Hilary

The #HeadFire is burning adjacent to a checkerboard land ownership which was recently acquired by a multinational player in the carbon offset business. Here is a short rant about why this might be a bad place to bank carbon.

As rising temperatures threaten the health of populations worldwide, people need to know when and where extreme heat will occur. We collaborated with The Washington Post, creating a new dataset that is the basis for an important series. washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro…

Climate analytics are increasingly done in private “black boxes,” with few systems for ensuring data availability, accessibility, and quality. We hope our work might set an example for doing climate analytics in the open. Transparency matters! carbonplan.org/blog/open-risk…

A few months ago, I read a study that showed schizophrenia can be the most deadly preexisting condition during a heat wave. I was puzzled: Why would a mental illness make you more vulnerable to heat? That question led me to a young man named Stephan Goodwin. This is his story🧵

There are good reasons to be excited about harnessing rock weathering to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. But demonstrating that enhanced weathering actually works is surprisingly tricky. We're releasing a new tool that we hope can help. carbonplan.org/research/ew-qu…

had a blast working with Claire Zarakas on this piece. worth highlighting that the whole thing was made possible because of open science -- thanks Kalyn Dorheim and Ben Bond-Lamberty for maintaining hector. jgcri.github.io/hector/

We spent about five hours trying to figure out the precise location of an offset project. It shouldn't have to be this way ... carbonplan.org/blog/bigcoast-…

As recently as 2022, South Pole filed paperwork with Verra - Standards for a Sustainable Future heralding the biodiversity benefits of the Kariba project, going so far as to claim: “The conservation of threatened species […] lies at the core of the Kariba REDD+ project’s activities.” Meanwhile, …

Even though vegetation is *not* exceptionally dry this fall in NorCal, in many areas it's still dry enough to carry a fire under strong wind/low RH conditions (like this weekend). I wouldn't call this an extreme event, but wind-driven fires can still cause big problems. #CAfire

Fun fact: Kariba is the single largest contributor to Verra’s buffer pool.

Last month, Heidi Blake exposed the Kariba project as selling carbon credits that didn’t really exist. The project is officially “On Hold” but, incredibly, people are still using the credits.

1/n: With the onset of active cool-season weather across Canada in late Sept., the off-switch for the superlative 2023 fire-season has been finally been thrown. The season started early, ended late, and exceeded the previous maximum by a factor of 4. #pyrocene #canadianwildfires

#BreakingNews There's widespread sexual harassment and abuse on a celebrated carbon offset project in Kasigau, Kenya, run by US company Wildlife Works, a new investigation by SOMO and KHRC shows. Key buyers include @Netflix, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft and Shell. We're releasing

The Amazon is in trouble. That's been the case for years. But this winter -now spring- the region is in it's worst drought on record due to El Nino, a warm Atlantic & climate change. Oct temps +5-12F! Locally deforestation, much from the beef industry, enhances heat + aridity 1/

"Would you be happy eating at a restaurant that paid for its own food safety inspection?" Sexual abuse at a carbon offset project in Kenya is a reminder that this self-regulated industry doesn't have the safeguards in place to protect people. Bloomberg Opinion ⬇️ bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

Troubles with California's forest offset buffer pool continue to mount. New paperwork suggests that nearly a third of the buffer pool has been lost to wildfire. carbonplan.org/blog/buffer-up…

Corn ethanol carbon capture and storage projects are being marketed as carbon removal. The problem is, they’re not.