That was the warning from Alex Narracott, chief executive and founder of Much Better Adventures, speaking at the Fairer Travel Sustainability Forum.

The company, which operates with an aim of “protecting our world’s wild place one adventure at a time”, contributes 5% of its revenues to supporting conservation, reforesting and rewilding projects. It also has an objective to remove at least two times more carbon than its trips emit. 

Offering advice for delegates starting out on the journey, Narracott urged them to ensure they had a plan in place for carbon reduction before they start considering offsetting. 

“Carbon reduction is a small part of our sustainability plan,” he said. “It has to come after you have a plan to reduce carbon. I have a problem with the concept of carbon offsetting because it can mean that some companies just pay money to essentially keep emitting carbon. We don’t want to be part of that.”

For companies that do want to partner with carbon offsetting schemes, Narracott urged them to ask detailed questions and conduct thorough research. “There is a real threat that the schemes some companies are supporting could be doing more harm than good,” he warned.

For example he said projects offering cheaper and faster routes to growing high volumes of trees can sometimes lead to large scale monoculture plantations, fast growing non-native species and poorly managed short term schemes. This in turn can have serious negative impacts Narracott said, “reducing biodiversity, impacting local ecology, degrading the land and creating potential flooding and firehazards.”

He referenced a project in Scotland which saw a company clearing peat bogs to plant trees, despite peat bogs absorbing more carbon.

Discussing Much Better Adventures’ approach to carbon offsetting, Narracott advised that the best projects “are more than just carbon. Embrace interconnection, that’s the best way to reduce carbon for centuries to come,” he urged. This means projects that do a variety of things - from preserving native wildlife to boosting biodiversity as well as tackling flooding and droughts. “Also ensure that any schemes also benefit local communities and create longterm jobs,” he added.

Narracott advised delegates to ask a series of questions exploring the below themes. And he highlighted that a low priced scheme should be an immediate red flag. “If it is cheap this is not necessarily a good thing,” he warned. 

Questions to ask of carbon offsetting schemes:

• Do the trees include native species and diverse species, not monoplanting?
• Are the causes of the original degradation understood and being addressed?
• Is there a solid long term protection plan in place?
• Is there a plan for monitoring and replanting of saplings that don’t survive?
• Is there transparent monitoring and reporting on progress, backed up by scientific evidence?
• Is this supported and led by the local community?
• Is this helping to create sustainable incomes streams for the local community?
• Why are you so cheap?