Gucci named in carbon offsetting controversy

PARIS – Luxury fashion brand Gucci is among dozens of companies to have purchased controversial rainforest offsets which a new investigation claims are “largely worthless and could make global heating worse.” A nine-month investigation into global carbon standard Verra claims more than 90 per cent of its rainforest offset credits are likely to be “phantom credits” which, “do not represent genuine carbon reductions.”

The investigation was undertaken by the Guardian, German weekly Die Zeit and SourceMaterial, a non-profit investigative journalism organisation. Verra has disputed the findings in a statement.