The race for carbon neutrality is on. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has determined that we have until 2030 to cut our greenhouse gas emissions in half—and that just gets us a 50% chance of avoiding the worst effects of climate change. By 2050, our global civilization will need to reach net zero.
That’s not a lot of time to change how we do things, especially considering worldwide population growth. The fact that developing countries also want to enjoy the advantages of industrialization that first world countries have had for over a century creates added pressure.
There will need to be a lot of investment in new technology, major overhauls of our infrastructure, and changes to how almost every industry works. For many organizations, the only way to balance the scales in the short term is to purchase carbon credits.