Can I trust carbon credits (offsets)? What about planting trees?

Carbon credits include both carbon removal and carbon avoidance projects, and range in price from $10/ton to $100/ton. The projects Bend supports are removal only, at a price of at least $100/ton. To get to net zero by 2050, we need to support these science-based projects, which store carbon permanently (>1,000 years) and have demonstrated potential to scale to gigatons of carbon removal.

According to the Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting, only removal offsets are consistent with net zero goals.

Planting trees is part of the solution, but most models suggest that trees alone will not get us to a net zero economy.To learn more, we recommend this article by Dr. Hausfather in the New York Times.