A Lufthansa Boeing 747-430 landing in Barcelona on September 30th, 2022. | Photo by Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Airlines are selling passengers false hope that they can cancel out their flight’s negative impact on the environment, according to a new report. It probed eight of the biggest airlines in Europe and found that many of them funnel money into highly suspect carbon offset projects that might not actually reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Purchasing carbon offset credits has become a popular way for corporations to absolve themselves of responsibility for the climate-damaging pollution they produce. Airlines might offer customers the option to pay for the offset credits themselves or might have their own commitments to offset emissions from their company’s flights. The money from those credits is supposed to support renewable energy or…