The label "climate neutral" is experiencing a boom and we are encountering it more and more frequently in everyday life. Behind this are rarely efforts to reduce the emission of climate-damaging emissions, but rather the financing of "CO2 compensation projects", which then flow into the carbon footprint of the respective financiers. Rwanda is a popular project location in this regard and is considered a reliable showcase partner in the market. In practice, however, the promise of easily purchased climate neutrality cannot be kept. Our research in Rwanda shows that the savings sold are often unverifiable, the ecological added value is more than questionable, and climate (in)justice is not just a political fighting term, but a life-threatening reality in East Africa.
We talked to scientists, government representatives, NGO leaders, journalists, climate activists and above all to the people on the ground who suffer most from the consequences of climate change and for whose causes they are not responsible. "Make our voices heard" was an often heard request to us and with the support of Journalismfund Europe we tried to comply with it.
