A better way to offset pollution? Buy people heat pumps

Source: Marc Goldgrub | · CANADA’S NATIONAL OBSERVER · | January 11, 2024

Source: Properly managed, offset programs involving heat pumps could be an extraordinary tool in fighting climate change. Photo by Shutterstock

Carbon offsetting may be a crucial tool in humanity's effort to combat climate change — albeit one we've massively mishandled by focusing on solutions that are susceptible to problematic financial engineering and fraud. But perhaps there’s still a way to take Occam’s razor to the issue and create real offsets that provide tangible benefits.

One option I've come across, being tested out in Alaska, is for companies to purchase individual heat pumps and take carbon credits for the resulting emission reductions. It’s not a bad idea.

The economics of carbon offsetting are sound and elegant. Certain economically valuable activities (aviation, steel production) generate emissions that are extremely difficult and costly to reduce. Other economically valuable activities (energy generation, home heating) generate emissions that are comparatively easier and cheaper to mitigate at their source thanks to cost-effective and readily available technologies (renewables, heat pumps).