Taylor Swift tries to escape ‘climate police’ with help from carbon offsets: Wall Street Journal

Pop star Taylor Swift, who has a $40 million private jet, is turning to carbon offsets to reduce her carbon footprint after criticism from fans, according to an editorial on Tuesday.

Carbon offsets are used by airlines and other companies in order to meet environmental goals of reducing net carbon emissions. But The Wall Street Journal editorial board argued that such offsets, what it termed as “climate indulgences,” are mostly for show.

“They are a political creation that lets companies and countries—and now celebrities—virtue signal,” the editorial board wrote. “If a manufacturer wants to claim it is reducing emissions, it can buy a credit rather than use less gas or coal power. Instead of flying commercial, Ms. Swift can buy credits to offset trips on her $40 million Dᴀssault aircraft. Carbon offsets don’t significantly reduce emissions, but they do promote the illusion that a net-zero world is possible.”