Carbon Offsetting and Corporate Strategies: The Case of Large German Firms

Abstract

Carbon offsetting and the associated actors and markets have become an important part of what some call the green economy. Introduced as an instrument to fight climate change, carbon offsetting constitutes a market mechanism in which financial support of emission-reduction projects is exchanged for tradable carbon credits. These credits are an artificial commodity based on the absence of emissions and are called carbon offsets (Knox-Hayes 2013). In contrast to green services aimed at reducing emissions in a firm’s, an organization’s or household’s production and consumption processes directly, engagement in carbon offsetting also leads to emission reductions, but in other contexts and locations.