Carbon Offset

Is offsetting the solution to climate change?

At Carbon Footprint, our belief is that climate change will only be addressed if each and every one of us takes responsible steps to REDUCE their CO2 emissions.

We do realise that for some individuals, businesses and organisations, avoidance of all CO2 emissions will be almost impossible – in this case, Carbon Offsetting plays a vital role.

What is Carbon Offsetting ?

Each of our everyday actions consume energy and produce carbon dioxide emissions, e.g. taking holiday flights, driving our cars, heating or cooling our homes and offices. Carbon Offsets can be used to compensate for the emissions produced by funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving somewhere else.

How do I Carbon Offset ?

The process of Carbon offsetting involves two steps – first a calculation of your carbon footprint. For individuals, you can do this on-line with our real-time calculator. For small businesses we offer a free to use on line calculator. For larger organisations, we offer a service tailored to the needs of your business – please contact us for your obligation-free carbon footprint appraisal quotation.

The second step involves buying carbon offset credits from emission reduction projects. Such projects will prevent / have already prevented or removed an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide elsewhere in the World. As CO2 emissions are distributed across the World, it does not matter whether you make the reduction in Manchester or Mumbai – the positive effect on the environment will be the same.

What types of carbon offset can I buy & what are their benefits?

Carbon Footprint offers a broad range of products that fall into two categories that we call Certified Carbon Credits and Voluntary Carbon Credits.

Certified Carbon Credits

Certified Emission Reduction (CER) products are Kyoto Protocol compliant. They are fully traceable, and will have been verified by the United Nations (UN).

European Union Allowances (EUAs) can be retired. Offsetting in this way reduces the amount of carbon dioxide allowance, available for the largest polluting companies to buy. The EUAs would otherwise be traded on to Companies to help them to meet their emissions targets. By buying these types of offsets you are encouraging organisations to continue to make savings of CO2, and pushing the market to make it increasingly expensive for polluting companies to buy more credits.

Voluntary Carbon Credits

These products include our international tree planting programmes, and our clean energy fund. Our programmes are independently monitored and fully traceable. Trees reduce CO2 by a process known as carbon sequestration – i.e. trees breathe in CO2 and exhale harmless Oxygen. Our Kenya trees are planted on owned & managed land, where they are protected by local legislation.

Trees have further benefits of providing sustainable eco-environments. They provide a habitat for wildlife, encourage biodiversity, and beautify the landscape. In developing countries, they also support community sustainability by encouraging sustainable land management & build wealth creation.

We also retire Verified Emission Reduction (VER) credits through our Clean Energy Fund. All carbon offset projects in our Clean Energy Fund will be verified against the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS).

Is Carbon Footprint approved by DEFRA's Code of Best Practice?

Carbon Footprint welcomes DEFRA's initiative to establish a code of best practice for carbon offsetting.

This code is currently being reviewed and is due to be in place by the middle of 2008, so at the moment no offset provider is approved by DEFRA, as the code has not yet been released.

We are however, delighted to be consultees in DEFRA's Code of Best Practice consultation programme, and will seek accreditation as soon as the code is in place.

How are Carbon Footprint's offsets verified ?

Carbon Footprint has adopted a strict protocol for management of offsets / supply chain from the inception of our business. We carry out careful due diligence of our project collaborators and suppliers before we offer any products to you.

Most of our projects are verified against the international Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS).

Ongoing management of our carbon offset project portfolio is fully traceable. We keep detailed records of all purchase made through this web site, along with a database of all the offline sales (most of which are made to companies). We also have a system, which records when tree planting has occured or offsets have been retired, so they can be cross referenced with the customer purchases.

How do I buy?

Simply visit our Shop.