A TD has told the Public Accounts Committee that climate credits “seem like a bit of a scam,” questioning whether the Government would benefit more from spending the money on projects in Ireland.
Fianna Fáil TD Albert Dolan, a member of the Public Accounts Committee, was speaking on Thursday as the Committee heard that €2.5 million in carbon credits have been written off by the State.
More than 700,000 carbon credits bought over recent years in a push to offset greenhouse gas emissions were later deemed to be without value after a change to EU law meant that they could no longer be used.
“I have another concern, really,” Dolan told an official from the Department of Justice. “Carbon credits, they just, they seem like a bit of a scam.
“And I don’t want to be crude, but they seem like a scam – because would we not be better off spending the money on actual projects on our own island here that can store carbon, or can better improve the environment? As opposed to trying to buy pieces of paper to say, Oh, we’re the best child in the class.”
The Committee heard that the State has taken in around €523.8 million through the Climate Action Fund – however €220 million of this has yet to be drawn down.
A total of €118 million had been spent by the State on carbon credits, which are effectively a way for Governments to offset a certain amount of greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing from other countries who have exceeded their own targets.
The Committee was told that Ireland’s carbon fund has been dormant since 2022, containing just the unusable credits worth €2.5 million.
The Department did not confirm the amount it had cost originally to buy the cancelled credits.
Deputy Albert Dolan asked officials if they have assurance “that when you buy carbon credits, you’re not just buying a piece of paper.”
To this, an official responded: ”We can rely on the systems in other EU member states to make sure that the carbon credits are there, and they’re necessarily audited, and so on.”
The concept has been widely criticised – with an investigation by the Guardian newspaper in 2023 finding that up to 68 per cent of top emission offsets are considered to be likely worthless. The review by Corporate Accountability and the Guardian found 39 of the top 50 projects were probably “junk”.
Meanwhile, an investigation by The Times newspaper previously found that between 84 and 90 per cent of credits issued for popular rainforest offset schemes fell short of delivering the promised climate benefits.
A study into Verra, a leading crediting programme, found more than 90 per cent of its rainforest offsets were “phantom credits.”
Another 2024 Nature Communications study, which delved into about a fifth of all issued credits, found that less than 16 per cent of credits resulted in real reductions in emissions.
Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy told the meeting that the credits in question were rendered unusable after the EU adopted the Effort-Sharing-Decision.
According to a briefing document provided to the Committee, the 702,000 carbon credits had been cancelled in April 2025, and consequently “the nominal assets have now been eliminated, and the carbon fund is effectively dormant.”