Facts are a key element of informed decision-making. And not just any facts, the best facts that are most connected to reality are needed to make the best decision. One more thing: "alternative" facts only exist in alternate universes, so use them at your intergalactic peril. Verra, "the world's leading carbon standard for the fast-growing $2 billion voluntary [carbon] offset market," appears to have been doing this for years, The Guardian reported on January 18. According to the paper, the research found that "the more than 90 % (rainforest) offset credits wrapped by Verra and bought by green-lovers like Shell, Disney and Gucci "are likely to be 'phantom credits' and do not represent real carbon reductions." Specifically, this means that the "94 % credits" that Verra sold to "internationally renowned companies" had "no climate benefit" at all. Furthermore, The Guardian continued: “The threat to forests was overestimated by about 400 % for the Verra projects. Big Biz was not alone. Even angst-ridden grunge bands jumped on the CO2 bandwagon: Pearl Jam was among the "…organizations that bought Verra-endorsed rainforest offerings." The findings hit experts like Barbara Haya, director of the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project, like a hammer. After all, The Guardian reported, Haya "has been researching carbon credits for 20 years in the hope of finding a way to make the system work." "The implications of this analysis are huge," she told the paper. "Companies use credits to claim emissions reductions, when most of these credits do not represent emissions reductions at all." Huge, sure, but they mirror what others have found whenever forest carbon offsets are explored as a means of clearing the conscience of corporate CO2 creators. For example, when a ProPublica reporter dug into forest CO2 offsets four years ago, she found—spoiler alert—the same sorry results that The Guardian found earlier this year. (Alan Guebert, Farm and dairy)