Learn about Carbon Offsetting
What is Offsetting?
An offset is a greenhouse gas emissions reduction or removal that is used to counterbalance or compensate ('offset') for emissions from other activities. Offsetting carbon emissions can be achieved by purchasing carbon credits.
Carbon credits can be purchased by countries, companies or individuals. The key criterion for a carbon credit is that the greenhouse gas reduction it creates would not have happened anyway; in other words, it is additional to business-as-usual activity.
Offsetting is increasingly popular for companies or individuals either aiming to reduce the impact of their carbon emissions or trying to become carbon neutral. It mandates investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency and forestry projects (biosequestration) to compensate for the remaining carbon emissions that exist after all efforts have been made to eliminate or reduce emissions.
To find out how to calculate your carbon emissions click here.
How to offset
The carbon offsetting market is still young and is evolving. As such there is little regulation in place controlling it. The table below provides a brief summary of how carbon offsets can be achieved and the benefits and drawbacks of these approaches.
| |
Forestry | Renewable energy | Energy efficiency |
| How it works | Trees are planted to absorb carbon which is already in the atmosphere. | Prevents release of carbon through funding renewable energy schemes to displace fossil fuel use. | Prevents release of carbon by implementing better processes or technologies to increase energy efficiency. |
| Timeframe | The lifetime of the tree. | Long term as this will facilitate movement away from fossil fuel based electricity production. | Potential long term reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by reducing energy requirements. |
| Positives | Counter deforestation and create habitat (providing appropriate native flora complexes are planted). They may also prevent erosion and sedimentation of waterways. | Creates an incentive for growing the renewable energy industry. Supports projects which might not otherwise be economically feasible. | Encourages energy conservation activities and increases awareness. |
| Limitations | The amount of carbon sequestered depends on the age of the trees, growth rate, soil and climate conditions. Trees may die or be impacted by fire/flood/disease. Plantations may require fertiliser, pesticides and irrigation and there are concerns that farmers that have sold land for carbon sequestering projects may move onto another area and clear there. |
Large areas of land are required for wind farms, biofuel crops, photovoltaic solar cells and risks of industrialising the countryside. Biofuels create concerns regarding loss of natural lands which could be ploughed up for planting biofuels, and the impact that using foodcrops for fuel could have on food prices. |
Difficulties calculating actual energy savings and relies upon the features being used appropriately. |
Typically offset providers such as Carbon Planet buy carbon credits in bulk, and creates carbon credit packages based on your preferences.
If you are thinking of buying carbon credits to offset your carbon emissions, it is wise to purchase those that have obtained third party accreditation such as the Greenhouse friendly certification developed by the Australian government; the Gold Standard for verified emissions reductions which is endorsed by over 49 non governmental organisations worldwide; the Voluntary Carbon Standard developed by the http://www.theclimategroup.org/; the International Emissions Trading Association; and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. For further information and to see what to look out for click here.
Some of the offset schemes which have received third party accreditation, from which you can purchase offsets for flights, individual or business activities, are shown in the table below.
| Name | Offset types available | Accreditation |
| Climate friendly http://www.climatefriendly.com/ | Renewable | Greenpower*, Gold Standard |
| Greenfleet http://www.greenfleet.com.au/ | Forestry | Awaiting independent verification for the AGO Greenhouse Friendly Program. |
| Carbon Reduction Institute http://www.noco2.com.au/ | Energy efficiency, Renewable energy |
GGAS**, Gold Standard. |
| Carbon planet http://www.carbonplanet.com/ | Forestry, Energy efficiency | GGAS** |
|
Elementree http://www.elementree.com.au/ |
Forestry | Currently in process of acquiring AGO Greenhouse Friendly Certification |
|
BP Global choice Beyond Petroleum website |
Fuel switching, flaring, compost | Greenhouse Friendly |
| Greenhouse Balanced http://www.greenhousebalanced.com/ | Forestry | Greenhouse Friendly |
| Neco carbon offsetting | Efficiency, renewables | GGAS** |
Source: adapted from ‘Carbon Neutral watch – Corporates, Consultants and Credibility Discussion Paper.’ Total Environment Centre, May 2007.
*Greenpower goes beyond the Australian Government’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) which requires energy companies to contribute to the generation of 9,500GWh of renewable energy per year by 2010. An accredited GreenPower product will always carry the ‘tick’ label (see ecolabels link), which tells you the amount of accredited GreenPower the energy supplier purchases.
**GGAS stands for the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (GGAS). This scheme creates NSW (New South Wales) Greenhouse Abatement Certificates (NGACs) for energy efficiency or sequestration. Each NGAC abates a single tonne of carbon dioxide for 100 years. Details of other schemes aimed at reducing or removing greenhouse gas emissions is provided on the GGAS website.
Other resources
The Australian Conservation Foundation provides a great guide to going carbon neutral. The key steps include reducing your own emissions, buying renewable energy then offsetting the rest. ACF also maintains a list of the carbon neutral products which is available by following the link.
The Total Environment Centre has prepared a report into the problems and pitfalls of the Australian carbon offset market. This report, available on the TEC website, identifies that in terms of offsetting, ‘trees should be a last resort’ and that ‘carbon neutrality via energy efficiency programs and renewable energy that reduce emissions immediately are a much better option’.
There are more than 17 carbon neutrality and offset providers in Australia. Detailed information on a number of those providers is available in the report published by RMIT University in May 2007 which is available online at www.global.rmit.edu.au/CarbonOffsets2007.pdf.
Offsetting is an interesting and controversial area. Give us your views, ideas or experiences of offsetting by emailing us at comments@greenbeings.com.au or discuss with others through the blog/forum.