laborshortages

Many of the world’s largest companies are setting net-zero climate goals, and they’re using carbon credits to get there. That means they can keep producing carbon emissions as long as they pay for emissions to be reduced elsewhere.

But do carbon credits actually incentivize companies to reduce their emissions?

On the show today, Pedro Martins Barata, associate vice president for carbon markets at the Environmental Defense Fund, explains what carbon credits are and the ethical concerns with companies relying on them to meet net-zero emissions goals. Plus, what future regulation of carbon markets could look like.

Then, we’ll unpack the good and bad news in the latest U.S. climate assessment. And, some industries are compensating for widespread staffing shortages by requiring employees to work excessive overtime.

Later, we’ll hear about how some farmers are combating climate change. And, this week’s answer to the Make Me Smart question was inspired by a listener.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• • “Fossil-fuel company net zero plans ‘largely meaningless,’ report says” from Reuters

• • “Carbon credit speculators could lose billions as offsets deemed ‘worthless’” from The Guardian

• • “The Climate Solution Actually Adding Millions of Tons of CO2 Into the Atmosphere” from ProPublica

• • “Analysis: How some of the world’s largest companies rely on carbon offsets to ‘reach net-zero’” from Carbon Brief

• • “Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation” from Science

• • “Carbon offsets: What are they and do they work?” from CNN Business

• • “36-hour shifts, 80-hour weeks: Workers are being burned out by overtime” from NBC News

• • “US climate assessment lays out growing threats, opportunities as temperatures rise” from Reuters

• • “Farm fields don’t just feed us. They store carbon. But a big question is how much” from AP News

We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. You can reach us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Japan has one of the highest rates of life expectancy and one of the lowest birth rates. But does that mean that a widely circulated claim – that more nappies aimed at adults are sold in Japan than those made for babies – is true? With guests Sarah Parsons, Senior Teaching Fellow at SOAS in London and Dr Mireya Solis, Knight Chair in Japan Studies at the Brookings Institution.

Presenter: Charlotte McDonald Reporter: Isobel Gough Producers: Isobel Gough, Jon Bithrey Sound Engineer: James Beard Production Co-ordinator: Brenda Brown

Some economists have been warning of an imminent recession in the United States for over a year now. But so far, it has yet to strike. We’ll get into the different ways economists are thinking about how a so-called recession might play out. Also, humans are having a profound, literally axis-shifting impact on Planet Earth. And, how company crackdowns on sharing memberships hurt single people.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• • “Something Was Messing With Earth’s Axis. The Answer Has to Do With Us.” from The New York Times

• • “Is it a ‘richcession’? Or a ‘rolling recession’? Or maybe no recession at all?” from AP News

• • “Costco cracking down on membership sharing at self-checkout” from Axios

• • “South Koreans become a year or two younger as traditional way of counting age scrapped” from Reuters

• • President Joe Biden claps back at Sen. Tommy Tuberville in a tweet.

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As businesses reopen, a record-breaking number of people are quitting their jobs, and employers adapt to new attitudes about work in the COVID-19 era. Originally aired October 2021.

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