| For many people carbon offsets have emerged as the new economy and the answer to climate change. Carbon offsets are not the silver bullet but are one piece of a combined puzzle that needs to be put in place to abate serious climate change.
It is recognised that in the early adoption of moving away from a carbon intensive society to a low intensive society the role that offsetting has will be greatest at first. As change filters through the dependence on offsetting as a percentage will diminish. In the meantime carbon offsets are innovative ways of diverting money into more environmentally responsible products and services.
What is carbon offsetting?
Carbon offsetting enables you to take responsibility for the carbon emissions your activities create by paying someone to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere on your behalf. Offsetting offers businesses and individuals a way to compensate for the carbon emissions they produce. It involves paying an offset company to invest in renewable energy schemes - projects that will reduce carbon emissions by an equal amount to those created by activities such as air travel, driving or heating a building.
How is offsetting my CO2 going to help reduce the threat of climate change?
Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing global society. We all need to make every effort to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we can; we should offset the emissions we can’t reduce now.
Offsetting tackles climate change by:
- making real reductions in amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere that would not have happened without us.
- providing funds for renewable technologies and energy efficient solutions.
- raising awareness of the impact that our lifestyles have on the climate.
Why do different offset companies have different prices?
When you buy an offset, the price will be determined by two factors:
- The amount of CO2 that is calculated from your activities – this may be different depending on the assumptions used by different companies.
- The price you are charged to offset this amount - our price per tonne of CO2 reflects the cost to reduce 1 tonne of CO2 through our project portfolio.
Carbonmetrics Offset Certificate
When you offset with us you'll get a Carbonmetrics Certificate showing your emission reductions, as well as reduction tips to help you continue reducing where possible.
After using the offsets calculator to work out how many tonnes of CO2 your activities produce, you can pay Carbonmetrics to reduce the equivalent amount of CO2 in another part of the world by investing that money into emission reduction projects. So when you buy a tonne of carbon from Carbonmetrics emission reduction portfolio, a tonne will be reduced through our projects. The money is used to replace fuel-hungry inefficient technologies with low carbon efficient technologies in developing countries. It’s a great investment because not only does it reduce emissions, it helps spread the adoption of low carbon technologies and improves the quality of life for communities and individuals alike.
Offsets help reduce emissions in more ways than one
- Enable you to reduce your net emissions to zero, right now
- Help people understand and take responsibility for their impact on the environment.
- Raise awareness about climate change and the methods available to deal with it
- Provide vital cash injections into innovating low carbon technologies
- Help fund the transition to a low-carbon world
- Deliver sustainable social benefits to some of the world’s poorest communities
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Types Of Carbon Offsets
There are many innovative projects that attract carbon credits and sell their carbon offsets on the marketplace. Whilst the measurement, or currency, of offsets is the same (tonnes of C02), the source of the carbon differs per project. Choosing the right carbon source for your project can also help to enhance your standing with your customers and marketplace.
Renewable Energy
The amount of energy generated by cleaner technologies such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and tidal, displaces a similar amount that would otherwise have been generated by GHG polluting techniques. These projects are seen to be longer lasting and assist in investing in newer, more expensive power generation.
Energy Efficiency
These project employ more efficient technologies or processes in the workplace or home and reduce the amount of energy used. Projects include fuel switching, light bulb replacement, technology transferring or building refurbishment. The amount of carbon saved by the project is then offered as an offset.
Bio-sequestration (forestry projects)
Bio-sequestration is the process where carbon is stored in the natural bioata of living things such as tree's and soils. Forestry projects actually take carbon out of the air via photo-synthesis and store it in their leaves and stems. The amount stored is calculated and offered as a carbon offset. These projects have a lot of additional benefits such as habitat creation, improving soil quality and aesthetics, but also generate concerns with regards to verification and security.
Avoided Deforestation
Avoiding carbon losses by protecting vegetation from logging or degregated land clearing practices is a new emerging source of carbon. If it can be proved that the vegetation was in threat of emmitting carbon and this is overted, then the saved carbon can be valued as an offset. It has been estimated by WWF. That up to 20% of future global carbon emissions are attributable to deforestation.
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