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My understanding is that when these credits are sold to polluters, we take some of their money and some of their carbon footprint - we end up with an equivalent carbon footprint to if we were driving ICEs, and the polluter gets to advertise themselves as having reached "net zero emissions". 2/

Carbon credits need to be "additional" to be valid. Surely the credits from administration of our system aren't. I paid for an EV to reduce carbon emissions, not to increase the supply of offsets on the market and let someone else increase their emissions by the amount I decreased mine. I ordered the EV before I knew we'd get home charging, and I'm driving it a lot more than I drove our ICE because its (gross) carbon emissions are lower. 3/

The company says that reporting aggregated charging data to the government is mandatory. OK. They also say that participation in the federal carbon credit scheme is legally required, to boost the supply of available offsets. And that single family homeowners' EV charging carbon credits get sold by BC Hydro (the electricity company). Does this sound true? 4/

Trying to reduce my own emissions, I feel like a vegetarian followed by a bully saying "for every steak you don't eat, I'll throw one away".

Is there an option to reduce emissions here, other than driving less (i.e. less hiking, road trips, beach trips with the dog)? Is individual action pointless aside from lobbying etc that influences the setting of the federal emissions targets? 5/