Buying carbon neutrality? : Corporate motives for financing carbon offsets

Sammanfattning: Carbon offsets are often presented as a multi-beneficial way for companies to mitigate their net climate impact while contributing environmental and social benefits on a global and local scale. Critics argue it is used to avoid more meaningful alterations to a company's own operations. Despite the increasing popularity of carbon offsets, little research has explored why companies choose to finance them. This study aims at addressing this research gap by exploring the motives that drive companies to offset emissions, how this fits into their sustainability strategies, and how the overall sustainability strategies are affected by acquiring carbon offsets. A multiple-method approach was deployed, using semi-structured interviews and content analysis. The study examines medium and large-sized companies in Sweden. Results indicate that carbon offsets are generally integrated as a final stage in the fundamental sustainability strategy. No indications could be identified that it has a detrimental effect on the company's overall sustainability initiatives. A model is proposed depicting the motives and drivers of corporate carbon offset financing. Legitimacy, competitiveness, and individual responsibility are three fundamental motives. Further, seven distinct drivers could be identified: labor retention, product differentiation, cost reduction, industry isomorphism, risk minimization, corporate culture, and personal values. These factors, internally or externally driven, incentivize companies to finance carbon offsets. There were two primary factors that acted as obstacles for companies when offsetting emissions. These perceived barriers were the risk of damaged credibility, and the risk concerning additionality and, what is in this study referred to as materiality. Overall, this study sheds light on the motives driving corporate carbon offset financing, and how companies integrate offsets into their broader sustainability strategies. This research is important for understanding how carbon offsets fit into companies' overall sustainability plans, and how policymakers can encourage meaningful corporate action on climate change. As a concluding remark, recommendations are provided for future research within the field.