Upsetting offsetting? Nathan the Wise’s Ring Parable and three reasons why not to adopt the carbon offsetting logic to biodiversity

Abstract

AbstractThe climate crisis and the alarming loss of biodiversity require urgent action. One of the most popular tools to tackle these crises is offsetting, an accounting logic through which environmental damages can be compensated elsewhere with environmental benefits. Developed to help address the climate crisis, the carbon offsetting logic has also been transposed to address biodiversity loss. Biodiversity offsets permit the compensation of residual environmental damages through equivalent gains undertaken elsewhere. This article identifies three arguments that show why such a transposition is problematic. To explain the fundamental problem with biodiversity offsetting, the famous Lessing’s “Nathan the Wise” Ring Parable (Ringparabel) is proposed as an allegoric interpretation of the biodiversity offsetting logic, stressing that unique entities lose their uniqueness and power once people try to replicate them.