The Misconception
“Carbon credits are all scams”
This is CDR Misconception #4 in our weekly series debunking common myths about carbon dioxide removal with data and evidence.
The Math
The legitimate grievances:
- Some REDD+ projects credited forests never under threat
- Cookstove offsets with flimsy MRV
- Permanence gaps: forests sold as 30-yr sinks that burned in year 5
- Baseline manipulation to inflate claimed reductions
The 2023 Verra REDD+ exposé was real. The critics aren’t wrong about these specific projects.
The Reality
But here’s what the “all scams” crowd misses:
DAC+storage credits from Climeworks or 1PointFive remove CO₂ you can measure, verify, and store in geological formations for millions of years.
The molecule either IS in the rock or it ISN’T.
There’s no counterfactual dispute. No baseline inflation. No permanence risk.
This is categorically different from a forest offset.
The Real Risk
The quality framework that matters:
Avoidance (REDD+, cookstoves) → Counterfactual, fragile, risky Removal (biochar, EW, DAC) → Physical, measurable, durable
Within removal, storage permanence varies:
→ Biochar: centuries
→ Enhanced weathering: millennia
→ DAC+geological storage: geological timescales
Microsoft, Stripe, Shopify all buy CDR only. That distinction is doing a lot of work.
CDR Misconception of the Week — Every Friday, we debunk one myth about carbon removal with data.
Sources: IPCC AR6, State of CDR 2023, CDR.fyi