ABSTRACT
An area that has been a biodiverse, functioning ecosystem for decades could be negatively impacted by changing the habitat. If changing land management to increase carbon storage, that similarly holds potential to be unhealthy for the existing community of life on the land. Protect existing healthy land function and be wary of altering ecosystems solely for carbon benefit. Different programs might have different frequencies of re-verification to confirm that carbon benefits are being achieved over time. Even when offsets are verified, complications can arise, like wildfires that make forest offset carbon literally go up in smoke. Programs can have reserves to mitigate that , but there will always be that risk with less permanent carbon storage like wood and even soils. Offset providers can support improvements within the regulated organizational boundary—on-site efficiency, on-site renewables, and R&D in emerging carbon removal solutions that hold some promise.
