School districts in BC are caught in a Catch 22. Provincial carbon neutral measures are forcing districts to pay for carbon offsets that don’t actually reduce the districts’ own emissions AND drain funds from education operating budgets. The bigger the emissions gap, the more offsets districts have to buy; the more they have to buy, the less they can shrink emissions.
This Catch 22 is costing BC school districts $25 per ton of carbon offsets. Catch $25 drained $4.4 million from BC school district operating budgets for 2010. This report provides new policy ideas to help schools make real progress in emission reductions.