Land and nature

Webinar: What is the role for carbon offsetting in delivering a just transition?

Sign up to our latest webinar which will bring together a plurality of views on carbon offsetting

Webinar: What is the role for carbon offsetting in delivering a just transition?

By Miriam Brett

20 January 2025

Protecting and restoring nature has a vital role to play in accelerating Scotland’s net zero transition, while also delivering economic benefits to local communities. In recent years, Scotland has become a particularly attractive destination for investors seeking to purchase land for carbon offsetting and natural capital activities. This has resulted in rapid changes to the dynamics of Scotland’s rural land market, while concerns have been raised about the extent to which carbon offsetting is diverting investment away from emissions reduction. Such shifts have generated fresh questions around the extent to which carbon credits generated in Scotland are delivering environmental and community benefits.

Future Economy Scotland is proud to host this timely webinar and we are honoured to be joined by a panel of talented speakers:

  • Dr Jill Robbie: Jill is Professor of Property Law and the Natural Environment at University of Glasgow. She investigates the tensions between social justice, economic development and environmental protection in the context of the law regulating land use. Together with Dr Gigi Jokubauskaite, she wrote the report “Carbon Markets, Public Interest and Landownership in Scotland” in 2022, commissioned by the Scottish Land Commission.”
  • Ailsa Raeburn: Ailsa is the Chairperson at Community Land Scotland and the Chair of the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust. She has served as a Director on the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust and worked as the Head of the Community Assets Team at Highlands and Island Enterprise. Ailsa is also a member of the Boards of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Crown Estate Scotland.
  • Dr Calum Brown: Calum is Co-chief Scientist at Highlands Rewilding, and a Senior Researcher in Land Use & Climate Change at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He uses a range of scientific methods to explore how people's use of land might change in the future, and the scope for nature-based solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss. Having grown up in the Highlands, he is particularly interested in the local benefits that can arise from ecological restoration and their contributions to rural communities.
  • Dr Theo Stanley: Theo is an environmental social scientist, who is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Southampton. Last year, he completed his PhD at the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, University of Oxford, which examined the effects of carbon finance on reforestation and nature restoration in Scotland. His research draws on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with people living and working across the land sector in Scotland, including users, developers and sceptics of the UK Woodland Carbon Code.

Key details about the webinar can be found below: 

  • Date: 4th February 
  • Time: 18:00-19:00 
  • Format: The webinar will be an opportunity to hear from a plurality of expert views on carbon offsetting and there will be an opportunity to ask questions during the Q&A. 

You can sign up for the webinar here. We look forward to seeing you there!

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