Cuando las empresas de ‘créditos de carbono’ se vuelven perversas, destruyen la naturaleza para lavar la imagen de las industrias más contaminantes
The article argues that carbon credits, presented as climate solutions, function as a tool of greenwashing that allows corporations to continue polluting while funding projects that displace Indigenous communities. This mechanism not only distorts the perception of sustainability but also criminalizes the low-impact traditional practices of local peoples, replacing them with private surveillance and neocolonial control over their ancestral territories. The relevance to the concept of greenwashing lies in how so-called "Nature-based Solutions" instrumentalize environmental protection to cleanse the image of highly destructive industries, such as the palm oil industry. By monetizing nature without addressing the root causes of the ecological crisis, these initiatives exacerbate social inequality and corporate impunity, offering a green facade that conceals land grabs and the loss of Indigenous sovereignty under the fictitious justification of climate change mitigation. Ultimately, the text concludes that these schemes are ineffective at reducing actual emissions and primarily serve to postpone genuine sustainability actions. The critique highlights the hypocrisy of a system that exploits resources from the Global South while destroying the livelihoods of its inhabitants, demonstrating that true conservation requires a systemic change centered on human rights and environmental justice, rather than market mechanisms that prioritize corporate profit over ecosystemic balance.
Source: ecoticias.comPublished on 2025-08-14