
Your Lyft Ride Is Now Carbon-Neutral. Your Uber Isn't - digital55
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/all-lyft-rides-are-carbon-neutral/558443/?single_page=true
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masonic
Buying carbon _offsets_ does _not_ make _your_ company "carbon neutral".

It means (1) we are estimating (by some secret formula) the carbon impact of
our drivers and (2) we are paying money to some outside agencies that may or
may not _actually_ sequester some amount of carbon... but they do give us a
nice, glossy certificate.

Carbon credits are being created out of thin air ( _literally_ ) without even
doing anything new toward sequestration. For example, Haliburton Forest in
Ontario and the Headwaters Forest in California sell carbon credits for simply
_not cutting trees down_ , which is strictly banned in the first place (for
Headwaters, at least).

There's no indication that Lyft is even computing carbon impact of vehicles
_actually used_ , even assuming optimal fuel consumption for the given make
and model. Rideshare vehicles tend to be larger and heavier than vehicles used
by actual taxi companies.

Purchasing indulgences is not the same as not sinning in the first place.

