MAM
The growing demand for carbon offsetting and carbon credits
Mumbai: In recent years, the global conversation around climate change has intensified, leading to increased awareness and urgency regarding the need for sustainable practices. One key area that has gained significant traction is carbon offsetting and carbon credits. Creduce, India’s leading services provider in the field of climate change and carbon asset management, recognizes the pivotal role these measures play in shaping a sustainable future.
Understanding carbon offsetting:
Carbon offsetting is a process where individuals, businesses, or governments invest in environmental projects to balance out their own carbon emissions. These projects, such as reforestation initiatives or renewable energy installations, absorb or reduce an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This practice allows entities to neutralize their carbon footprint, thereby mitigating the adverse effects of climate change.
The significance of carbon credits:
Carbon credits are a key component of carbon offsetting efforts. They represent a unit of measurement for one ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent gases that have been reduced or removed from the atmosphere. Organizations can buy these credits from projects that have successfully reduced emissions. By purchasing carbon credits, companies can meet their emission reduction targets, support sustainable development initiatives, and contribute to global climate change mitigation efforts.
Factors driving the demand:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Many businesses are recognizing the importance of CSR initiatives, including carbon offsetting, to enhance their public image and contribute to environmental conservation.
Regulatory compliance: With increasing environmental regulations worldwide, businesses are compelled to reduce their carbon emissions. Carbon offsetting provides a viable avenue for compliance with these regulations.
Consumer awareness: As consumers become more environmentally conscious, they are demanding that companies take responsibility for their carbon emissions. This push from consumers is driving businesses to invest in carbon offsetting initiatives.
Climate change mitigation: Governments and international organizations are actively promoting carbon offsetting as a practical solution to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. This support further boosts the demand for carbon credits.
Challenges and opportunities:
While the demand for carbon offsetting and carbon credits is on the rise, several challenges persist. These include ensuring the transparency and effectiveness of offset projects, avoiding greenwashing, and promoting inclusivity in the distribution of benefits from these initiatives.
However, these challenges also present opportunities for innovation and improvement. Technological advancements, increased collaboration between governments and private sectors, and robust monitoring mechanisms can enhance the credibility and impact of carbon offsetting projects.
Conclusion:
The growing demand for carbon offsetting and carbon credits signifies a significant step toward a sustainable future. Creduce, as a leading player in the climate change and carbon asset management sector, remains committed to supporting businesses and organizations in their efforts to reduce carbon emissions. By understanding the significance of carbon offsetting, addressing challenges, and seizing opportunities, society can collectively work towards a greener, more sustainable planet.
MAM
ASCI study uncovers how Gen Alpha navigates ads in endless digital feeds
‘What the Sigma?’ ethnographic report maps blurred boundaries between content and commerce for 7–15-year-olds.
MUMBAI: Gen Alpha isn’t scrolling through the internet, they’re living rent-free inside its never-ending dopamine drip, and the ads have already moved in next door. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, partnering with Futurebrands Consulting, has published ‘What the Sigma?’, an immersive ethnographic study that maps how Indian children aged 7–15 (Generation Alpha) consume, interpret and live alongside media and commercial messaging in a hyper-digital environment.
The research draws on in-home interviews, sibling and peer conversations, and discussions with parents, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, marketers and kidfluencers across six cities. It examines not only what children watch but how algorithms, content creators, peers and parents shape their relationship with the constant stream of shorts, vlogs, gameplay, memes, sponsored posts and ‘kid-ified’ adult material.
Five core themes emerged:
- Discontinuous Generation, Gen Alpha is not growing up alongside the internet, they are growing up inside it. Cultural references, humour, aesthetics and language sync globally in real time, often leaving adults functionally illiterate in their children’s world. A reference that lands instantly for a 10-year-old in Mumbai or Visakhapatnam feels opaque or disjointed to most parents.
- Authority Vacuum, Parents and teachers frequently lose cultural fluency in digital spaces. The algorithm responsive, inexhaustible and perfectly attuned to preferences becomes the most attentive presence in many children’s daily lives. Rules around screen time feel increasingly difficult to enforce when adults cannot fully see or understand the content landscape.
- Digital as Society, Online and offline no longer exist as separate realms, they form one continuous reality. The phone is not a tool children pick up; it is the primary social environment they inhabit.
- Great Media Mukbang, Content flows as an ambient, boundary-less, multi-sensorial stream. Entertainment, advertising, commerce, gameplay, memes and vlogs merge into one undifferentiated feed. The line between active choice and passive absorption has largely collapsed.
- Blurred Ad Recognition, Children aged 7–12 typically recognise only the most overt advertising formats. Influencer promotions, gaming integrations and vlog sponsorships often register as organic entertainment. Children aged 13–15 show greater ad literacy but remain highly susceptible to narrative-integrated, passion-driven and emotionally resonant brand messaging. Discernment remains low across the board in a non-stop stream.
ASCI CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said, “ASCI Academy’s study is an investigation into the content life of Generation Alpha not to judge them but to understand them. Their cultural reference points seem disjointed from those of earlier generations. Insights on how they perceive advertising is the first step towards building more responsible engagement frameworks, given that they are the youngest media consumers in our country right now.”
Futurebrands Consulting founder and director Santosh Desai added, “While earlier generations have been exposed to digital media, for this generation it is the world they inhabit. This report explores not only what they watch but how they are being shaped by algorithms, content and advertising.”
The study proposes four adaptive, principles-led pathways:
- Universal signposting of commercial intent using design principles that make advertising recognisable even to young audiences.
- Ecosystem-wide responsibility shared among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents.
- Future-ready safeguards built directly into children’s content experiences rather than as optional background settings.
- Formal media and advertising literacy embedded in school curricula to teach age-appropriate understanding of persuasion and commercial intent.
In a feed that never pauses, Gen Alpha isn’t merely watching content, they’re swimming in an ocean where entertainment, commerce and identity swirl together. The real question isn’t whether they can spot an ad; it’s whether the adults building the ocean can agree on where the lifeguards should stand.
