GFC report cited in Uganda carbon offsetting investigation

The Global Forest Coalition’s 2022 report Trees for Global Benefit Uganda: A Case Study on the Failures of Carbon Offsetting was cited in a new investigation by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. The investigation cites the GFC report and its author, David Kureeba, from GFC member group the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), Uganda.

It was Kureeba’s and GFC’s report, “based on interviews with over a hundred farmers, that drew us to the area,” the article says. “The information that something went seriously wrong in the project was already available a year and a half ago.”

“We are 45 million people crowded in Uganda,” Kureeba says, “and the vast majority are already living on the verge of starvation. They have no land to spare.”

The report looks into Swedish fast food chain Max Burgers AB’s claims of carbon neutrality through purchasing Plan Vivo carbon credits from the Trees for Global Benefit project.

In the article, journalist Staffan Lindberg highlights the inequity of the situation.

At Swedish hamburger restaurants, guests order from climate-neutral menus. In the forest, the children wait in vain for food.

The report was also picked up by REDD Monitor, which delves even further into the GFC study:

The clear message from all communities was that the project was not delivering its promised benefits, and participants were growing increasingly bitter and desperate.

Chris Lang at REDD Monitor goes on to say:

Swedish fast food chain Max Burgers AB claims to have had more than three million trees planted in the tropics. “Planting trees is an effective way to remove carbon dioxide,” the company states on its website. “Since 2018, MAX has been funding trees that capture the equivalent of 110% of our entire value chain’s greenhouse gas emissions.”

To read more you can access the original investigation in Swedish newspaper Aftopnbladet here: https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/bmM8Eq/de-hungrar-for-din-max-burgare-var-ar-maten

The REDD monitor coverage of the article can be accessed here: https://reddmonitor.substack.com/p/trees-for-global-benefits-climate

8 May, 2024
Posted in 2Media, GFC in the news