ABSTRACT

Voluntary carbon offsets are a rapidly growing market and claims related to offsetting and carbon neutrality are visible in citizens’ daily lives. Proponents suggest that carbon offsetting offers a cost-effective way to incentivize climate action while critics discuss offsetting as an opaque and dysfunctional practice. Previous studies have examined citizens’ perceptions principally through quantitative data, and especially by economic choice experiments. As voluntary carbon offsetting is unsettled in citizen’s everyday lives, we argue that such studies overlook the more subtle ways in which this is happening. To address these ways in detail, we conducted a multi-method analysis of a nationally representative survey (n = 1000) in Finland. The closed questions of the survey were first analysed quantitatively, and the insights then enriched by a qualitative analysis of the open questions. The combined results highlight citizens’ views and understandings as uncertain and ambivalent: despite a widespread willingness to address climate change, there is little unreserved support for voluntary carbon offsetting and distrust towards the sector is high. Our study cautions against placing high hopes in individuals’ voluntary carbon offsetting as a form of climate action.

摘要

自愿碳抵消是一个快速增长的市场，与抵消和碳中和相关的主张在公民的日常生活中随处可见。支持者认为碳抵消提供了一种经济有效的方式来激励气候行动，而批评者则认为碳抵消是一种不透明且功能失调的做法。先前的研究主要通过定量数据，特别是经济选择实验来检验公民的看法。由于自愿碳补偿在公民的日常生活中尚未得到解决，我们认为此类研究忽视了这种情况发生的更微妙的方式。为了详细解决这些问题，我们对一项全国代表性调查（n = 1000）在芬兰。首先对调查的封闭式问题进行定量分析，然后通过对开放式问题的定性分析来丰富见解。综合结果突显了公民的观点和理解是不确定和矛盾的：尽管人们普遍愿意应对气候变化，但对自愿碳抵消几乎没有毫无保留的支持，而且对该行业的不信任程度很高。我们的研究警告不要对个人自愿碳抵消作为气候行动的一种形式寄予厚望。