This: > You pay some other organization some amount of money, contradicts this: > and now you get a free pass and you aren't allowed > to do whatever you

This: > You pay some other organization some amount of money, contradicts this: > and now you get a free pass and you aren't allowed > to do whatever you want. You pay for a specific amount of carbon offsetting, so you don't get to claim carbon neutrality if you exceed the amount you offset. Of course given that this is all voluntary someone could lie, but that would be asshole behavior, and if you did it at scale (i.e. if a corporation lied about it), you would be discredited - in reputation and potentially be facing civil lawsuits.