Hi all, I am about to undertake my masters dissertation this summer. Since I have such broad research interests it has taken me a while to narrow down the topic I want to study and hence I am so last minute. I have since decided on carbon offsetting and more specifically looking at the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM).
I have now spent a a significant amount of time reading but have got myself very confused and not sure where to focus my attention. My project has to be mainly desk-based because of covid but it will be possible to collect primary data via online interviews etc. I can give more details of the requirements for dissertation from my University if needed.
The main areas of interest I have found from my reading are to do with:
- Carbon calculators and their differences in methodologies
- Rise of nature-based carbon offsetting in the VCM and associated opportunities & challenges
- The problem of 'legacy' credits
- Big businesses making carbon neutral pledges & using carbon offsetting to achieve
- Differing carbon credit standards e.g. Gold Standard, Verra etc.
I think all of the above could have good scope for a good dissertation. I was curious if anyone with more knowledge on carbon offsetting could help me out and offer some suggestions and insights? I would even appreciate any comments on the topics I have highlighted above.
Thanks a lot,
Connor.
Hi there, Connor
I want to know more about your master's dissertation and your written job, I am so interested in this matter since I have been the director of several projects within the forests – AFOLU sector, and I have more than 10 years of experience in the matter. Within the sector, there are several aspects that you will have to consider because there are plenty of hurdles that we will have to overcome in the following years. I think that a piece of superb information that can lead you to understand such common issues about the matter can be found here:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/04/carbon-offsets-used-by-major-airlines-based-on-flawed-system-warn-experts?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1620130796
and in the VERRA reply here:
https://verra.org/verra-response-to-guardian-article-on-carbon-offsets-used-by-major-airlines/
Both parts have part of the truth, but I am afraid that I have to say that standardized methodologies are light years away from the current science. Indeed, very few people within the system can perfectly understand all the components of a complex project. I think that this is an aspect that you will have to consider seriously in your dissertation. However, despite the latter, I am sure that this scheme is essential for preserving and mitigating the dreadful aftermaths of the climate change phenomena.
We are about to release the last version of our REDD+ project, so I can share some parts of this job with you, but I am afraid that you are not going to have enough time to internalize all the crucial aspects of a design; nevertheless, if you are interested, you can ask me for it through my mail [email protected] . Within this document, you can realize several aspects of using methodologies designed in countries with no tropical forests; then serious projects have to dwindle their current science scopes to fit general standards created even a couple of decades ago. Although this is a reality, general goals are still important to accomplish a change within the territories. Another aspect that you can discuss (I am going to harness a reply to another question) is that there is no standard formula to face climate change governance because many times, not even governments have explicit proper policies to guide such challenges. For instance, in our case in Colombia (Amazonian region), they do not even understand that the transformation of the ecosystems through deforestation and degradation phenomenons (current and potential) are essential to the climate change phenomenon in several senses. Besides, they have fostered a kind of exclusion between transformation drivers, so they have not included their "legal" potential activities within the reported national reference, leaving vast endangered regions without a possibility to set up a solid system of protection. Besides that, there is an explicit breaching over the international indigenous tenure and property. In this order of ideas, then the climate change governance in our project will have to become, firstly, robust to argue against the ignorance of national institutions and secondly against the lack of experience on the matter, implementing new technologies to face the phenomenon.
It basically depends on your interest. However, given the limitations and circumstances, the project in the direction of Carbon calculators and their differences in methodologies would, seemingly, suit you more.
For online interviews, perhaps revisit specific industries https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2012.11908094 to see what has changed since that study?
Riaz A. Khan Hi Riaz thank you for your comment. Do you have any good papers for me to read? I feel like this area has been highly researched so I would need to find an area relatively untouched
Connor, Putting on an idea which you generate after reading out the available literature, where work has been done, good if some substantial info is available, would be giving support when you put it on alone, restricted during these times. Just go sift and you will find. Why don't you google or go to ScienceDirect, Scopus, ScifinderScholar, etc.
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