Myth: Offsets are the answer to climate change.
Reality: There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Well-intentioned companies sometimes buy carbon offsets to compensate for all the CO2 they generate when their employees travel. The money goes to, say, farmers who plant trees that suck up enough carbon to offset all that jet and car exhaust.
But how climate-friendly is this tradeoff? How can you be sure the carbon is actually reduced? Was that tree ever planted? If it was, will it still exist five years from now?