Companies Are Buying Large Numbers of Carbon Offsets That Don’t Cut Emissions

With its 34 turbines perched on a hill in southwestern India, the Tuppadahalli wind farm generates green energy—and profits.

The wind farm and three others in India are owned by Acciona SA, an €8.1 billion Spanish infrastructure conglomerate which held an IPO of its renewables business last year. Tuppadahalli is performing so well that an Indian credit-ratings firm upgraded it, citing its strong cash position, modest debt and long-term contracts to sell the energy.