In a yearlong investigation from The New Humanitarian and Mongabay, spanning multiple countries, investigative reporters found the United Nations is not climate neutral as it claims to be.

The UN bases much of its claims on the use of carbon credits--which are already increasingly criticized by experts as having little impact on actually offsetting emissions. 

Reporters found that many projects that issue carbon credits to the U.N. were linked to environmental damage or displacement, and 2.7 million out of 6.6 million credits were linked to wind or hydropower — which experts say don’t represent true emissions reductions.

Joining the podcast to explain these findings is investigative reporter Jacob Goldberg from The New Humanitarian.

Related reading:

Revealed: Why the UN is not climate neutral

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Episode artwork: More than half of the UN carbon offsets come from high-risk projects. Image by JuergenPM via Pixabay (Public domain).

Please share your thoughts and feedback! submissions@mongabay.com.

The American bison ('buffalo') was once decimated to a tiny fraction of its original population of 30 million, reaching a low point of just 77 individuals. Today, they number around 350,000 thanks to the visionary preservation efforts of Indigenous communities, individual conservationists, and others.

Joining the Mongabay Newscast to discuss this hopeful conservation effort that enabled this comeback is acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker and American documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. His latest project examines the tragic history of the American buffalo and the devastation that their population collapse wrought upon Indigenous Americans. Mongabay staff-writer Liz Kimbrough speaks with him about his process, the role of native peoples in making the film, and what the team discovered by making it.

THE AMERICAN BUFFALO is set to premiere on U.S. public television, PBS, on Oct. 16 and 17.

Read Liz's feature and see the interview transcript here:

• Ken Burns discusses heartbreak & hope of ‘The American Buffalo,’ his new documentary

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find and follow Mongabay on all the social media platforms.

Episode artwork: The American bison, once on the very edge of extinction, is making a major comeback, including in protected areas and on tribal lands. Photo courtesy of Kelly Stoner/WCS

Please share your thoughts and feedback! submissions@mongabay.com.