If a company plants trees to offset its pollution, is that climate progress — or is it greenwashing? Critics of carbon markets say it’s the latter. But Sandeep Roy Choudhury, who’s spent two decades financing climate projects from rural cookstoves to coastal forests, says the real failure is discouraging companies from even trying. Hear his case for why we shouldn’t let perfection block meaningful action on climate change. (Recorded at TED Countdown Summit 2025 on June 17, 2025)
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@the.olawale
March 31, 2026 at 11:02 am
👏👏👏
@junghwale
March 31, 2026 at 11:02 am
Good
@rowdyvangrieken712
March 31, 2026 at 11:14 am
Thank you, I really needed this new perspective on carbon credits👏
@grizzlybear4122
March 31, 2026 at 11:18 am
There is no man made climate change.
@oxymoron500
March 31, 2026 at 1:26 pm
source?
@moon_lover.830
March 31, 2026 at 11:18 am
That’s what we’ve been saying over and over!
@American_hobo
March 31, 2026 at 11:20 am
They just pass the fee onto the consumer.
@zacharydupont2370
March 31, 2026 at 11:25 am
Which makes their products more expensive, incentivizing customers to go elsewhere if there is an alternative. Companies will research ways to avoid paying for carbon credits. Passing the fee on to the customer is part of the process.
@homerdk77
March 31, 2026 at 2:29 pm
They already did, they also made us all believe that we need to do something about the climate. When us personally is nothing compared to the change they could accomplished if they wanted to.
@Aspartame69
March 31, 2026 at 11:21 am
Alternative title : “Create rules that make commerce and industry in western nations impossible, while south and east asian nations take over that commerce and industry in a dirtier way”
Another alterative title: “DEATH TO THE WEST”
@oxymoron500
March 31, 2026 at 1:33 pm
India and China are rapidly reducing their emissions, even though they manufacture most of the world’s products. Many other countries (like Norway) run on almost 100% renewable energy and have a thriving economy. Meanwhile countries running on fossils can brace for yet another oil crisis.
@Aspartame69
March 31, 2026 at 2:28 pm
@oxymoron500 Norway extracts half of the north sea hydrocarbons.
It doesnt matter how green china and india are getting, when the practical outcome is that they collect all the industry and leave europe holding spreadsheets ahead of the next world war.
@oxymoron500
March 31, 2026 at 2:42 pm
@Aspartame69 yeah, they extract all those hydrocarbons and choose not to use them themselves. why would they do that? maybe because they realized that renewables are cheaper and they can make big bucks by selling them to countries that are being torn apart by deliberate culture wars and misinformation.
@Aspartame69
March 31, 2026 at 3:03 pm
@oxymoron500 The cost of renewables includes the cost of the solar panels, and turbines themselves (though how do you quantify slave labour and premature deaths from silica poisoning), and in addition the cost of a gas or coal power plant to sit dormant for when the sun doesnt shine and the wind doesnt blow.
That is exactly why, as the UK gets more renewables, energy gets more expensive.
Its exactly the same as if immigration was really a strength, we would have really noticed some improvement by now given the gargantuan level of immigration.
Your ideology is regulated by mantra.
There is a reason that china is building a new coal power plant every single week and a large part of the australian economy is based on selling coal to china.
@chasmenear7130
March 31, 2026 at 11:29 am
That’s a great sentiment (that most of us have thought of), but the problem in these times of ‘ever more prevalent’ greed is that WE will pay for the bill – just like with Trump’s tariffs.
@cosmiclettuce
March 31, 2026 at 11:33 am
companies do not pay for *anything* — customers (people) do! Your focus is misdirected,
@oxymoron500
March 31, 2026 at 1:21 pm
Which makes their products more expensive, incentivizing customers to go elsewhere if there is an alternative. Companies will research ways to avoid paying for carbon credits. Passing the fee on to the customer is part of the process.
– @zacharydupont2370
@andersjohnson9565
March 31, 2026 at 11:57 am
5:22 “Polluters pay, but pay WHO, right?” Wrong. It’s, “Pay WHOM.”
@joseleon8235
March 31, 2026 at 12:07 pm
TED is getting narrative not knowledge. Customers end paying. Economics 101.
@oxymoron500
March 31, 2026 at 1:24 pm
Which makes their products more expensive, incentivizing customers to go elsewhere if there is an alternative. Companies will research ways to avoid paying for carbon credits. Passing the fee on to the customer is part of the process.
@gtaclevelandcity
March 31, 2026 at 1:07 pm
Making companies pay a fee for climate change means their workers will be forced to do more work for less money while their customers pay more money for less product. Their share golders will always find a way to shift the government’s overreach onto others.
@AutismIsUnstoppable
March 31, 2026 at 1:15 pm
1. Companies will just pass the cost onto the consumer.
2. China produces about 34% of the worlds CO2, that’s more than the next 5 largest contributors to CO2 production. They will never sign up to this.
@oxymoron500
March 31, 2026 at 1:26 pm
1. Which makes their products more expensive, incentivizing customers to go elsewhere if there is an alternative. Companies will research ways to avoid paying for carbon credits. Passing the fee on to the customer is part of the process.
2. China is rapidly reducing their emissions, even though they are the world’s largest manufacturer.
@AutismIsUnstoppable
March 31, 2026 at 1:52 pm
@oxymoron500 China has announced they have plans to reduce CO2 production, I wouldn’t say they are “reducing their emissions”. China also has a history of lying to save face so I will believe it when I see it.
@saranbhatia8809
March 31, 2026 at 1:32 pm
Greatly relevant possibilities!
@anon-i6p
March 31, 2026 at 1:47 pm
The objective of this talk is commendable. The presentation is laudable.
The reality is laughable. We live in a world where most of the industrialized governments pander to ultrawealthy corporations. Where credits and currencies – who owns what and who owes what – can be changed the moment a warmongering foreign superpower sends in the troops.
On paper, “carbon credits” are a wonderful idea which polices itself and forces accountability. In reality, they would just become another tool for exploitation and assigning debt victim/scapegoats.
@muhammadnomankhan3521
March 31, 2026 at 2:05 pm
Two ignored things of this world. 1: UN 2: TED Talks