ABSTRACT
This chapter explains what offsetting is, and includes an outline of the two main types of environmental offset: biodiversity and carbon. The key advantages and disadvantages of offsetting are introduced and briefly discussed. Disadvantages of offsetting are categorized as either moral or practical, and range from the ethics of valuing the environment, to more specific critiques about how offsets have been made and traded within markets. A commonly cited advantage of offsetting is how it allows for the productive engagement of industry and business in finding solutions to environmental problems.
