Yes, we do need carbon credits to successfully fight climate change. Despite what some say, there's no evidence that we can raise sufficient finance to successfully fight climate change without using them. And there's no way to fully decarbonise at speed without bringing them into play. 

However, those involved in their creation, purchase, or use need to follow what is now well-established guidance on doing so with integrity. And they need to use them for the right purposes. 

This episode on carbon credits features Michaela Morris, the newly-appointed chief executive of Tasman Environmental Markets, known as TEM, which provides carbon offsetting solutions in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific.

Michaela previously worked in a senior executive role at the prestigious Climateworks thinktank, and before that worked as a senior climate and sustainability consultant, assisting major companies with their decarbonisation and sustainability efforts. 

Michaela talks about perceptions of carbon credits, outlines problems with the concept of "real zero", discusses how to wisely choose and use carbon credits, and chats about 'scope 3' emissions.

Michaela stresses the need for companies that are contemplating using credits to have science-based emissions reduction targets in place, as well as credible transition plans.

And she advises companies not to "net off" their use of carbon credits against their residual emissions in their reporting, describing it as counter-productive. 

In addition, she lists four purposes for which carbon credit use is legitimate: 

• dealing with residual emissions.
• going voluntarily above and beyond your target operational emissions reductions in any given year.
• investing in CO2 removal.
• smoothing your decarbonisation trajectory, while staying within your carbon budget. 

You can find out more about TEM at https://www.tasmanenvironmental.com.au and you can find out about its new TEM Online Enterprise service at https://www.tasmanenvironmental.com.au/solutions/marketplace-solutions/