The first carbon offset

In 1988, as floods struck Bangladesh and a heat wave swept across the United States, climate change became a political issue. Governments and businesses alike talked about how to stop it, or at least slow it down.

That year the think tank World Resources Institute and the energy company Applied Energy Services announced a novel idea that has been credited as the first example of a ‘carbon offset’: In order to make up for the millions of tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide that would be released by a new coal-fired power plant in the United States, the energy company would pay to plant 52 million trees in Guatemala. But the reality on the ground was more complicated.

Stan Alcorn visits Totonicapán, Guatemala and speaks with Roberto Antonio Alvarado, who planted the saplings that would be some of the world’s first carbon offsets. Additional producing by Dennis Funk. A Written in Air production.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.

(Photo: Roberto Antonio Alvarado with one of the first carbon offset trees he planted. Credit: Stan Alcorn)