Laura Maghețiu
Email: l.maghetiu@qmul.ac.uk
Laura Maghețiu is an interdisciplinary doctoral researcher at the Centre on Labour, Sustainability and Global Production at Queen Mary University of London. She holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Oxford and a BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences from the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany, and Sciences Po Grenoble, France. Her training in the social, economic, and environmental sciences has led to her combined research interest in green finance, supply-chain studies, and global development outcomes.
Laura has gathered extensive qualitative and quantitative research assistance experience at the University of Oxford and the University of Freiburg. As a Trainee at the European Parliament in Brussels, she has worked on the EU Due Diligence Directive and Euro-Latin trade relations.
Laura is fluent in German, Romanian, English, Spanish and French.
Project Title
A Comparative Study of Voluntary Carbon Offsetting Markets and the Forestry Sectors of Romania and Uruguay
Project Description
We have all seen messages like “Click here to plant a tree.” Often, this means transferring money to offsetting programs, such as those in the voluntary carbon market (VCM). This market offers businesses or individuals to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions by funding projects that remove carbon elsewhere – often through tree planting and forest conservation. The idea behind voluntary offsets is simple: if one activity releases emissions into the atmosphere, another activity can help absorb or reduce those emissions.
However, it is often overlooked that the offsetting industry, which is financial in nature, therefore necessarily intersects with existing physical industries like the forestry sector. The project thus aims to shed light on the under-researched business relations between forestry business actors and VCMs, which are both characterized by different types of firms and other actors. Hereby, underlying business models remain unexplored: It is unclear how projects are made feasible through concrete business strategies in particular times and places that necessarily stand in relation to existing forestry business. Examples include changing public and private regulations, timberland investors, investment timelines or exploration of new areas.
I aim to explore this by looking at two case studies: industrial tree plantations in Uruguay and private forest conservation projects in Romania. Both cases involve offsetting programmes linked to forestry operations, making them valuable for understanding how these two sectors overlap. I thus ask the research question: How are tree-based voluntary carbon offsets produced in relation to existing forestry businesses?
Supervision
Laura is completing their PhD research under the supervision of Prof. Liam Campling, Dr.Shreya Sinha, and Prof. Steffen Böhm (University of Exeter).