Carbon Neutral Offset Programs called into question by prominent environmental lawyers.

The programs claim they allow people to make everything from air travel to concert tickets “carbon neutral”, but there is concern that the lack of regulation and rapid growth in the market has created an environment where consumers could be conned.

The National Environmental Law Association’s conference on climate change this week was held at a Western Australian hotel, which proudly boasts it has been accredited as a carbon neutral venue.

The idea is that the hotel works out how much carbon dioxide it produces, then pays for something which consumes an equivalent amount of CO2 – in this case, an area of rainforest in Ecuador.

The industry has grown rapidly in recent times. In the last year the number of companies offering voluntary carbon credit schemes has leapt from 15 to 37 – and that has experts worried.

Senior environmental lawyer Lisa Moore, from the Melbourne legal firm Blake Dawson, was at the conference and says the growth in the industry has made it difficult to assess what people are buying.

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