07.03.2025

Examining Carbon Offsets and the True Path Toward Sustainability

Corporations are pouring money into flawed offset programs that fail to address deeper issues. There’s a better way.

As corporations push to declare “net zero” and “carbon neutrality,” they often set their sights on carbon offsets. At their core, these offsets promise to balance greenhouse gas emissions with carbon-positive additions to the environment. Examples of carbon offset programs include reforestation, land restoration, and investments in renewable energy like wind and solar.

For many reasons, however, carbon offsets are flawed. For one, the offsets don’t negate the fact that companies are producing carbon, they just make it easier for them to hide that fact from everyday people by declaring “net zero.” Meanwhile, some of the projects companies pay for would have happened with or without the additional funding, while verifying whether the offsets deliver actual reductions in emissions remains a challenge. Several reports have highlighted the lack of accountability in these programs. An analysis by the Guardian, for instance, found that more than 90 percent of rainforest carbon offsets are “worthless.” Bloomberg profiled a major industry participant who admitted that, “weak rules have created strong incentives for landowners to develop offset projects that don’t actually change the way forests are managed, and therefore do little to help the climate.”

That hasn’t stopped the largest corporations in the world from sinking money into offsets; two-thirds are using the programs to meet their climate goals, Carbon Brief says.

Even fixing all the problems of carbon offsets would not alone set companies on the right path. Instead, we need to rethink our approach. The buzzwords that corporations pursue are not actually their best path to reducing emissions. That path begins with a better way to measure impact.

Making an impact starts with reliably measuring progress

As is true with just about anything, it’s difficult to make meaningful progress if we can’t honestly and accurately measure the current state of affairs. Until we can come together on a set of metrics that shed light on the sustainability of various products and processes, we won’t be able to move into a more responsible era. To that end, Gensler’s Product Sustainability Standards offer promise.

Toward a more sound standard

Gensler’s Product Sustainability Standards are a set of rigorous standards for manufacturing processes and product materials. Now spanning 20 product categories, up from 12 when the standards first came out in early 2024, they guide designers, architects, and engineers to make more responsible selections by equipping them with a clear measure of how products stack up.

The standards aim to improve responsible practices not only in an office or recreational setting, but also inside residential design. A wide range of materials—from flooring to furniture to the materials inside walls—have been brought under the microscope. So far, the results have been promising. Upon the release of the standards, major industry players began to rethink their processes.

“Manufacturers of some of the most well-regarded brands (particularly in highly competitive interior product markets like carpet tile and acoustic ceiling tile) that are specified by Gensler began redesigning and re-engineering their products,” according to Gensler. “They focused on using alternative materials with lower carbon impacts, fine-tuning their manufacturing processes to reduce energy consumption, investing in more EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations), and prioritizing the implementation of the ESG (Environmental Social Governance) reports to meet our criteria.”

Eliminating the guesswork

Gensler’s Product Sustainability Standards are a great example of how we can push industries into a future where sustainability is not an afterthought, but a foundational principle to be considered from the very beginning of any project.

Already, with thoughtful consideration, we don’t have to sacrifice aesthetics to responsibly create new collections or products. But the trick will be encouraging the entire manufacturing ecosystem to buy-in, ultimately increasing the amount of responsible and resilient products on the market. Gensler’s standards should serve as a foundation upon which responsible manufacturing can be further normalized.

Even beyond Gensler’s standards, there are many ways that corporations can look to make an impact beyond carbon offsets. Instead of pouring money into offsets, companies can redirect their investments into R&D to identify opportunities to further lower their impact. That’s the approach that Atlanta-based Interface is taking. The flooring manufacturer removed carbon offsets from its portfolio last year and stopped declaring its products, “carbon neutral.” Instead, Interface is taking a comprehensive approach to long-term impact, aiming to be carbon-negative by 2040 across scopes 1, 2, and 3.

It’s not the only company taking bold steps to reduce emissions. Ikea UK said last year that it won’t rely on carbon offsets along its path to net zero absolute greenhouse gas emissions, which the company wants to reach by 2050. A range of cruise lines have gotten serious about their impact, engaging with Aquafil’s Born R2R program to design and install rugs that are born from regenerated nylon and built to be repurposed after use.

In addition to such initiatives, companies can and should also consider prioritizing biodiversity and embarking on a journey to reduce their impact on nature. Biodiversity tends to be low on the list of priorities for most companies, but it’s intrinsically linked to larger corporate goals. “Climate change exacerbates biodiversity loss, and, in turn, nature loss exacerbates climate change because nature is a carbon sink, absorbing approximately half of human-made emissions,” The Economist notes.

Better measurement will yield better results, incentivizing companies to engage with the real issues and find creative solutions. Rather than band-aid over processes that add harmful emissions to the environment by purchasing flawed carbon offsets, companies will be incentivized to create responsible products for a better environmental future. That’s a win not only for design, but for the world.