Developer caught up in carbon offset scandal

Frasers Property Australia was one of a number of businesses which bought into a carbon credit scheme which claimed to regenerate forests in Zimbabwe but is now under investigation.

The Kariba REDD+ Forest Project is being investigated by international carbon crediting organisation Verra after an exposé by The New Yorker, which alleged the credits, sold through offsetting firm South Pole, were overvalued or even worthless. 

South Pole denied the allegations but has now ended its relationship with the project.

Frasers Property Australia, a unit of the Singapore-listed developer, offered purchasers of new homes at a Brisbane project the chance to offset the emissions from construction through purchase of credits from Kariba and another unrelated Australian project.

A spokesperson for Frasers told ABC News that Climate Active, Australia’s carbon assessor, would decide the eligibility of their Kariba offsets after the Verra investigation. 

Verra itself has come under fire after an investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and SourceMaterial earlier this year, which alleged that 90% of its rainforest carbon offsets were “worthless”.