Settling an unsettled phenomenon: citizens’ views and understandings of voluntary carbon offsetting in Finland

Voluntary carbon offsets are a rapidly growing market and claims related to offsetting and carbon neutrality are visible in citizens’ daily lives. Proponents suggest that carbon offsetting offers a cost-effective way to incentivize climate action while critics discuss offsetting as an opaque and dysfunctional practice. Previous studies have examined citizens’ perceptions principally through quantitative data, and especially by economic choice experiments. As voluntary carbon offsetting is unsettled in citizen’s everyday lives, we argue that such studies overlook the more subtle ways in which this is happening. To address these ways in detail, we conducted a multi-method analysis of a nationally representative survey (n = 1000) in Finland. The closed questions of the survey were first analysed quantitatively, and the insights then enriched by a qualitative analysis of the open questions. The combined results highlight citizens’ views and understandings as uncertain and ambivalent: despite a widespread willingness to address climate change, there is little unreserved support for voluntary carbon offsetting and distrust towards the sector is high. Our study cautions against placing high hopes in individuals’ voluntary carbon offsetting as a form of climate action.