If national governments across the globe are prepared to put minimising the climate threat ahead of protecting the fossil fuel industry, they will have to make major changes to how the net zero concept is being applied. This will require carbon offsetting to be brought in line with its intended application, and a consequential major reduction in its use.

The global objective should be to phase out fossil fuels as quickly as responsibly possible. Instead, the objective appears to have become how to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 without phasing out fossil fuels! It is hard not to think this has a lot to do with the power of the fossil fuel industry.