April 7, 2025, 14:00 CET

with

Prof. Dr. Maria Backhouse

Professorin des Lehrstuhls für
Umweltsoziologie mit

Schwerpunkt auf Sozial-
Ökologische Transformation,

Resilienzdesign und Klima
Zentrum für Klimaresilienz
Universität Augsburg

Transformation or Compensation? Conflicts over Voluntary Carbon Offsetting in the Amazon Basin

Online Seminar via Zoom or in person
Link and password upon request
Please write an e-mail to: swetlana.gerkhardt@med.uni-augsburg.de

Abstract:
The international climate policy consensus is that a global transformation to carbon-neutral societies must occur to save the planet. Since the Kyoto Climate Conference in 1997, a market-based view of this intentional "great transformation" has prevailed, increasingly equating transformation with compensation. A key instrument in this approach is the trade in carbon credits, particularly through voluntary carbon offsetting. However, numerous scandals have been questioning this market-based climate protection strategy. Critics have raised concerns ranging from fraud to carbon colonialism. Nevertheless, various stakeholders at different scales continue to support this approach. Based on an exploratory study, the presentation outlines the contradictions and conflicts surrounding voluntary carbon offsetting projects in the Brazilian Amazon Basin. Drawing on political-ecological and decolonial perspectives, it examines the tensions between transformation and compensation in an unequal global context.