As covered multiple times on HN before, many, if not most, companies selling CO^2 compensation/offset services are either directly fraudulent or achieving a lot less than they promise. Consequently, the HN crowd has been extremely negative on that topic, and whenever it comes up, the consensus seems to be: 'CO2 compensation does not currently work and can never work; do not bother with it; focus on something else (like reducing emissions) instead'.
However, I don't think just because many options in that space are junk it means that all of them are 100% useless and that CO^2 compensation cannot possibly have any positive impact.
If I'd want to compensate my past and future CO^2 impact, what would the best services in that area be? How would you rate their effectiveness? Are there valid resources out there ranking and evaluating the available options (based on scientific and not dogmatic criteria)?
Personally plant some trees.