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Letter: Mixed views on the push to suck carbon from the air (1)

Published 15 January 2025

From

From David Muir, Edinburgh, UK

It was good to read about the advances in direct air capture of carbon dioxide. However, the purchase of offset carbon credits by large corporations on the back of this strikes me as nothing more than a licence to pollute. Such firms should be doing more at source to cut emissions, but I reckon the cost of actually improving their environmental credentials is greater than the cost of the credits they buy (or they wouldn’t be buying them). This is a public relations exercise to save money and to excuse dubious anti-pollution practices (28 December, p 11).

Even after it is greenwashed, these corporations’ environmental and ethical laundry will still retain the scent of hypocrisy.

Issue no. 3526 published 18 January 2025

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