Paris (AFP)
A few euros, a few clicks and a tree is planted: at a time when traveling by plane can rhyme with guilt, it has never been easier to offset its CO2 emissions. But if the most polluting industries also join, the effectiveness of these actions is debated.
Even hydrocarbon behemoths are now rivaling reforestation projects: $ 300 million invested in plantations by Shell to reduce its carbon footprint by 2 to 3%; goal "zero net emissions" in exploration and production thanks to "huge forests" for ENI ...
As for Total, it is a business unit with $ 100 million a year, to be created in 2020, to "invest, develop and manage activities to convert degraded natural environments into carbon sinks," he said. sustainable and regenerative agriculture and forestry, and conservation activities ".
Whether it's a petroleum giant or a tourist who wants to cushion the climate impact of his exotic vacation, voluntary compensation usually follows a simple mechanism.
The "polluter" buys a credit equivalent to a certain weight of CO2. The amount paid directly or indirectly finances a project to reduce emissions, such as reforestation or investment in renewable energies.
It is this logic that will be applied in 2020 civil aviation, whose share of global CO2 emissions oscillates between 2 and 5% according to estimates, via the device "Corsia". 65 states are already willing to join, accounting for 87% of international aviation activity.
"There will be a number of CO2 reduction projects that will be eligible and airlines will be able to buy tonnes of CO2 equivalent on these projects," says Nathalie Simmenauer, Director of Environment and Sustainable Development at AFP. Air France.
The aim is to achieve "carbon growth neutrality", ie to maintain the level of emissions reached in 2020.
- "A loop-hole" -
If the forest remains an important tool of climatic regulation, the reforestation does not make it possible to be freed from all responsibility vis-a-vis actions carbon emitting.
"If you do not reduce your emissions and if you do not stop deforestation, it is not because you plant trees that you will solve anything," announces immediately Stéphane Hallaire, president and founder of Reforest Action that planted 3.8 million trees in nine years.
For 3 euros, this company plants a tree adapted to local biodiversity and buys a share of carbon credit for a forest conservation project abroad.
But according to Mr. Hallaire, reforestation must necessarily be accompanied by more virtuous behavior elsewhere.
A statement widely shared by the CEO of Voyageurs du Monde, Jean-François Rial, a strong advocate of "absorption": the identification and direct financing of "precise and sustainable" reforestation projects, without going through credit systems considered more opaque and less effective.
"If you just absorb your CO2 emissions, it will not work, it is essential to reduce the amount of CO2 used by the economies and to finance the energy transition," he warns.
"This is a loophole that risks dissuading society collectively from making significant efforts, to dissuade investing in more expensive technologies," adds Alain Karsenty, a researcher at the International Center for Agronomic Research and Development (CIRAD).
Large-scale afforestation poses other problems: projects may compete with food crops or natural forests, and planted trees may not always benefit their environment.
"These are often fast-growing species such as eucalyptus, pines, because we need trees that store carbon very quickly, but this can end up causing problems of biodiversity, soil drying," Alain Karsenty points out. .
Compensation through reforestation remains for the time being only one tool among others to reduce its emissions, until technical progress gives rise to solutions to better capture CO2 or to travel without polluting.
"This allows you to buy time! This temporary storage can be a way to make the transition while waiting for breakthrough technologies," concludes Karsenty.
© 2019 AFP