Data and Code for: Do carbon offsets offset carbon?

We develop and implement a new method for identifying wasted subsidies, and use it to provide systematic evidence on the misallocation of carbon offsets in the Clean Development Mechanism – the world's largest carbon offset program. Using newly constructed data on the locations and characteristics of over 1,000 wind farms in India we estimate that at least 52% of approved carbon offsets were allocated to projects that would very likely have been built anyway. In addition to wasting scarce resources, we estimate that the sale of these offsets to regulated polluters resulted in substantially higher global carbon dioxide emissions.<br><br><br>