“business-as-usual” mindset, where companies are able to use carbon offsetting as a way to avoid making larger changes that deal with reducing carbon emissions at its source. George Monbiot, an English environmentalist and writer, likened them to Roman Catholic indulgences, a way for the guilty to pay for absolution rather than changing their behavior. Still other critics dismiss carbon offsets as "a license to pollute" for businesses, suggesting that it is nothing but greenwashing. As it is difficult to assess the exact results of carbon offsets given the fact that they are a relatively new form of carbon reduction, it is possible that some carbon offset purchases are made in an attempt to increase positive business public relations rather than to help solve the issue of greenhouse gas emissions. In response, proponents of carbon offsets hold that the indulgence analogy is flawed because they claim carbon offsets actually reduce carbon emissions, changing the business as usual, and therefore address the root cause of climate change. Proponents of offsets claim that third-party certified carbon offsets are leading to increased investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency, methane biodigesters and reforestation and avoided deforestation projects, and claim that these alleged effects are the intended goal of carbon offsets. Ecosystem Marketplace reported in 2016 that companies that purchased carbon offsets were likely to be engaged in an overall carbon reduction strategy, not simply buying their way out of emissions. In October 2009 responsibletravel.com, once a strong voice in favour of carbon offsetting, announced that it would no longer offer carbon offsetting to its clients, stating that "too often offsets are being used by the tourism industry in developed countries to justify growth plans on the basis that money will be donated to projects in developing countries. Global reduction targets will not be met this way." In August 2006, three environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund-UK (WWF) and Friends of the Earth— declared that carbon offsetting is often used as an "easy way out for governments, businesses and individuals to continue polluting without making changes to the way they do business or their behaviour". On 4 February 2010, travel networking site Vida Loca Travel announced that they would donate 5 percent of profits to International Medical Corps instead of funding carbon offset projects, as they think that international aid can be more effective at cutting global warming in the long term than carbon offsetting,