Carbon Reduction Tip:Switch off lights in empty rooms
This could reduce bills by up to 15% per annum
what is offsetting?
Carbon credits to offset your emissions
Practically everything that we do in our daily life or in business involves the use of energy and, as a consequence, produces carbon dioxide emissions. Much of our carbon emissions can’t be helped, but you can give something back to the environment in the form of carbon credits, or offsetting.
Offsetting is the process of seeking a matching carbon dioxide reduction to balance out your emissions. For example, if you were flying with your family of four to Orlando in Florida from the UK this would generate nearly 6.5 tonnes of CO2. To offset this trip, you would need to purchase 6.5 tonnes of carbon credits which would then be invested into emission reduction projects in developing countries.
What sort of offsetting projects do carbon credits fund?
There are a number of approved project types which reduce carbon emissions. Examples include:
- Renewable energy
- Energy efficiency
- Destruction of highly concentrated greenhouse gases
- Destruction of methane from landfill sites.
These projects generally are sited in developing countries and the incentives provided by carbon credits are often vital to the choice between low or high CO2 investments in regions where energy is needed to improve the basic quality of life and the developed world’s environmental standards are a luxury they can’t afford.
Offsetting: what to look out for
Offsetting only works if the carbon reduction you are paying for is:
- Unique – used as an offset only once and not sold as an offset to a number of people.
- Additional – the project would not have taken place without the revenue from carbon credits.
- Verified – the quantity of unique, additional carbon reductions is strictly monitored.
All of Carbon Passport’s credits are Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) from Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. These projects are approved by the United Nations and deliver ethical carbon reductions as well as vital investment in developing countries. We follow DEFRA’s draft Code of Best Practice for carbon credits, and have used DEFRA’s “Act on CO2 Calculator” as the basis for our own carbon calculator.