👉 Background: Telstra, the largest telco company in Australia, joined the Federal government’s Climate Active program four years ago. There are now over 700 other companies who have committed to offset the pollution that they are emitting.

👉 What happened: But now, Telstra has announced that it will stop buying carbon credits under the government’s program. Rather than buying carbon credits to offset emissions, it will invest more money in decarbonisation projects, like renewable energy in its data centres.

👉 What else: Interestingly, many organisations are actually praising Telstra for ditching the program because carbon credits are a murky world for businesses.

What's the key learning?

💡Carbon credits have great intentions but have been failing in reality. Carbon credits allow big polluters to offset their emissions by buying enough credits to offset the carbon that they emit, without actually changing any of their behaviour.

💡 Carbon credits have become an appealing way for businesses to become 'carbon neutral'. As a result, the carbon credit market is worth $103 billion and is expected grow at 14.8% from 2024 to 2032.

💡Telstra already copped heat for buying the majority of its carbon offsets from renewable projects in India rather than in Australia where the emissions are taking place - so now, it looks like the big T will just go back to basics and reduce its emissions.