Spend enough time browsing carbon offset data and you’re bound to turn up something surprising. Join host Clark Merrefield with presenters Grayson Badgley and Maggie Koerth of CarbonPlan to learn the ins-and-outs of OffsetsDB, an open-access database of carbon offsets projects from around the world.

Carbon offsets are the cornerstone of a lot of climate policy — from corporate environmental responsibility plans to cap-and-trade programs to national net-zero goals.

But offsets are also financial instruments, with all the complicated bureaucracy and potential for malfeasance that come with any financial tool. Enter OffsetsDB, a repository of carbon offset projects and credits issued by five of the largest offset registries, produced by the nonprofit, nonpartisan CarbonPlan, which works to increase transparency around climate solutions.

In this webinar, hosted by The Journalist’s Resource, CarbonPlan research scientist Grayson Badgley and editorial lead Maggie Koerth will walk participants through:

• What carbon offsets are and how offset markets work.
• The difference between an offset, a credit and carbon capture.
• Organizations that regulate the offsets industry.
• How to compare important data about different types of offsets.

We’ll also set aside time for audience questions.

Moderator 

Clark Merrefield is senior editor for economics and legal systems at The Journalist’s Resource.

Presenters

Grayson Badgley is a research scientist at CarbonPlan who studies the science underpinning carbon offsets. He received his Ph.D. in Earth system science from Stanford University.

Maggie Koerth is editorial lead at CarbonPlan, is an award-winning journalist with 20 years’ experience covering the intersection of science and society for such publications as FiveThirtyEight.com and The New York Times Magazine. She is a Harvard Nieman Fellow (’15), a Berkman Klein Fellow and a member of the board at the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.