UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response Seminar: Dr Megan Evans

Abstract: Effectively mitigating climate-related risks requires urgent and deep decarbonisation in line with the targets set out in the Paris Agreement. Carbon credits are widely seen as a way for businesses and economies to reduce emissions in a cost-effective manner, yet there is growing recognition that the vast majority of carbon credits are failing to deliver their claimed emissions reductions and are instead delaying decarbonisation effort. Nevertheless, major developed and emerging economies continue to permit the use of carbon credits to meet regulated emissions reduction targets, prolonging the use and expansion of fossil fuels and increasing climate-related risks.

Despite the harms caused by inadequate carbon offsetting, major emitters are financially motivated to primarily buy low integrity carbon credits, while governments face incentives to boost credit supply to ensure climate policy remains politically palatable. In response to scientific research documenting integrity problems in carbon credits and pressure from non-governmental organizations, carbon project developers, voluntary registries and market regulators have sought to dismiss and marginalise critique, as well as withhold key data that could enable greater third-party scrutiny of carbon credit projects.

The January 2025 commencement of mandatory climate reporting in Australia may boost the transparency of firm’s use of carbon credits, though there are mitigating factors. First is the “modified liability scheme” which will provide reporting firms with 3 years of immunity from civil greenwashing claims for reporting on scope 3 emissions, scenario analysis and transition plans. Second, firms may selectively disclose information or adopt ambiguous language to conceal the use of carbon credits. Third, misinformation is deployed to prolong the legitimacy of carbon credits as a decarbonisation tool.

This research aims to improve transparency in the use of carbon credits by identifying misinformation and greenwashing risks.

Bio: Dr Megan Evans is a Senior Lecturer in Public Sector Management within the School of Business, UNSW Canberra, and Chief Investigator with the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist whose work aims to inform the design, implementation and evaluation of environmental laws, policies and tools.

Megan’s research has contributed significantly to environmental policy in Australia and internationally: key examples include her work on forest regeneration carbon offset integrity that triggered the Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units (Chubb review), the development of the Australian government’s biodiversity offset policy under federal environmental laws, and work on the economics of land-based carbon offsets that informed the establishment of the $500 million Land Restoration Fund in Queensland.

She is a frequent commentator in the media and sits on the editorial board of the journal Conservation Letters.