Australia’s big polluters rely on carbon offsets for climate credibility. But the system looks like a house of cards | Adam Morton

Credits are treated as a like-for-like swap for emissions, but carbon stored in nature is entirely different to burning millennia-old fossil fuels The fight within the Greens that led senators to cross the floor last week over koala protection in a national park may have finally put a spotlight on a bigger issue – one at the heart of much of Australia’s promise to act on the climate crisis. It’s this: the country and its polluting industries are too reliant on carbon offsets. The more reliance is placed on them, the more they look like a house of cards. Offsets can be a mind-deadening subject, but they matter. In Australia, they are known as Australian Carbon Credit Units.