How to Get Rich By Scamming the Climate

onJan 21, 2008 @ 07:01 PST

A cartoon in The New York Times brilliantly captured the mentality behind the latest green trend. It showed a man kneeling at the confessional praying, “Forgive me, but I have SUV‘d.”

The minister takes the proffered bag of money and replies:

Go thy way, thy sins are offset. You too can be forgiven of your carbon emitting sins and achieve the exalted status of being ‘carbon neutral’ without trading in your SUV or cancelling that overseas vacation.”

Here’s a collection of articles we’ve written on the issue carbon offsets:

Enron-Type Accounting Used to Calculate “Carbon Offsets”

Romm on trees and carbon offsets

The Latest in Offsets: Homelessness

Carbon Trading: “Bad for the South, Bad for the North, Bad for the Climate”

Monbiot: Methane Findings Highlight the Scam of Carbon Trading

By Ross Gelbspan

Canada Pension Plan is Bankrolling Trump’s Fossil Fuel and AI Agenda

ByTaylor Noakes

onFeb 6, 2026 @ 08:38 PST

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has invested billions in fossil fuel expansion in the United States since Trump’s return to office.

MAGA Gathers in European Parliament to Attack EU Laws

ByJoey Grostern

onFeb 6, 2026 @ 08:30 PST

The European far-right rubbed shoulders with pro-Trump groups in Brussels.

Series: Inside MAGA’s Global Climate Agenda

Series: MAGA

Q&A: Tech Billionaires’ AI Space Empire Fantasies Are ‘An Insidious Form of Climate Denial’

ByRei Takver

onFeb 4, 2026 @ 08:26 PST

Science journalist Adam Becker speaks with DeSmog about how Silicon Valley tech billionaires have invented new forms of greenwashing and climate denial in their quest for ever-more fantastic technology.