Carbon OffsettingCarbon offsetting solutions allow companies and to invest in environmental projects around the world in order to offset their own carbon footprints.

Through carbon offsetting, the more a business can do to reduce its carbon footprint the better for the planet, but sometimes that’s not possible. So, offsetting your carbon usage is a great way to bridge that gap and help reduce emissions.

Most carbon offsetting projects are usually based in developing countries and are usually designed to reduce future emissions.

These types of schemes involve the planting of trees which work by soaking up CO2 directly from the air through the planting of woods and forests.

These types of projects also create jobs, improve health and can help sustain community’s in rural areas.

In simple terms offsetting means buying carbon credits equivalent to your business or personal carbon impact.

This allows you to compensate for every tonne of CO2 you emit by ensuring there is one tonne less in the atmosphere.

Regardless of location one unit of CO2 is the same and has the same climate impact wherever it is emitted. So, the benefit is the same wherever it is reduced or avoided too.

How Does Carbon Offsetting Work

“Frequently carbon offsetting reduces emissions much faster than you can as company. Carbon offsetting projects help to combat global climate change as well as caring for local communities”

Carbon Offsetting

3 Steps to Carbon Offsetting

  • Step-1

    calculate your emissions

    This is easy for a single transaction like a flight or journey, but more complicated for those business looking to offset company wide carbon.

  • Step-2

    Start Reducing

    You should explore other ways to reduce carbon on a more permanent basis first, before deciding if you should reduce your emissions further.

  • Step-3

    choose an offset project

    Buy carbon credits equivalent to your business impact. This allows you to compensate for every tonne of CO2 you emit by ensuring there is one tonne less in the atmosphere. Regardless of location one unit of CO2 is the same and has the same climate impact wherever it is emitted. So, the benefit is the same wherever it is reduced or avoided too.

When to offset your carbon emissions

Some organisations choose to offset their entire carbon footprint, but others prefer to target the impact of a specific activity such as a flight or long journey. Others for example will offset their gas usage annually to support their sustainable business goals.

Many organisations are also providing products that are also available with carbon neutrality included as part of the overall price. This is where the price of the product includes the ability to offset the carbon that is used to generate the product or the carbon to deliver the product.

For example some logistics companies are providing carbon neutrality on delivered products.

How to calculate your carbon footprint

This is relatively simple when it’s a single transaction approach, as several websites allow you calculate the emissions from say a single flight or journey and then pay the offset company to reduce emissions elsewhere in the world by the same amount. This would make the journey or flight carbon neutral.

For more complicated requirements a simple website calculator probably won’t work, and particularly for those organisations looking to offset more than just a single transaction.

A more robust carbon reporting method must be defined and often this is an ongoing monthly transaction as apposed to a single offset action.

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    The cost of carbon offsetting

    The cost of carbon offsetting varies widely although the planting of trees is the biggest and cheapest way to tackle the climate crisis.  Offset schemes vary widely in terms of the cost, though a fairly typical fee would be around £8-£10 for each tonne of CO2 offset.

    > So, a typical British family would pay around £60 to offset a year’s worth of gas and electricity use by the planting of approximately 160 trees a year.

    > Whereas a small SME business (14,900 kWh/Year) with a carbon footprint of 6.14 tonnes would cost £370 to offset a year’s worth of electricity use by the planting of approximately 1,000 trees a year.

    So for those companies that are looking to improve their carbon credentials and enhance their environmental outlook, you can see the low cost and high gain benefits of these types of schemes.

    Offsetting your business carbon footprint is easier than you might think and Global climate experts agree that forests are an essential part of fighting climate change.

    Planting trees to carbon offset

    Planting trees is a great way to offset your company’s carbon emissions by investing in sustainable reforestation projects and invest in the most efficient action to mitigate climate change.

    trees

    Through photosynthesis trees absorb and store pollutants such as carbon and release oxygen back into the atmosphere. By ensuring that the trees planted are native species you can help to preserve the environment and biodiversity.

    Carbon Offsetting Services.Infinite possibilities. Endless opportunities.

    Carbon Offset Schemes

    Although offsetting by planting trees is easy for most people to understand, this isn’t the only option available for carbon offsetting. Once your carbon emissions are measured, individuals or organisations can purchase carbon offsets from a huge range of global offset projects. Carbon offset schemes, also known as carbon offsetting or carbon credits, are initiatives that allow individuals and organisations to balance out their carbon emissions by investing in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere.

    These projects can include renewable energy projects (such as wind farms or solar installations), reforestation or afforestation projects, energy efficiency initiatives, methane capture at landfills or farms, or investments in technologies that remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere (carbon capture and storage).

    The concept behind carbon offsetting is based on the principle that the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere is more important than where it is emitted. By investing in projects that reduce or remove carbon emissions, individuals and businesses can neutralise their carbon footprint and contribute to the overall reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

    Carbon offset schemes function by issuing carbon credits, which represent a set amount of greenhouse gas emissions that have been avoided, reduced, or removed. These credits can then be purchased by individuals or organisations to offset their own emissions. The funds generated from the sale of carbon credits are used to finance and support the implementation of additional carbon reduction projects.

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      How do carbon offset schemes work?

      Carbon offset schemes operate on the principle of additionality, which means that the projects funded through these schemes would not have occurred without the financial support provided by the purchase of carbon credits. This ensures that the carbon offsetting is genuinely making a difference and not simply funding activities that would have happened anyway.

      When individuals or businesses decide to offset their carbon emissions, they calculate their carbon footprint based on their energy consumption, travel, and other relevant activities. This calculation provides an estimate of the total emissions that need to be offset.  You can read more on carbon footprint reporting and the various levels that carbon reporting can take on our carbon reporting page.

      Once the carbon footprint is determined, individuals and businesses can choose a reputable carbon offset provider to purchase carbon credits. These providers offer a range of projects to invest in, each with its own carbon reduction potential. The number of carbon credits required to offset an individual or business’s emissions depends on the specific project and the number of emissions being offset.

      After the purchase of carbon credits, the provider retires those credits, ensuring they cannot be used again. This guarantees that the emission reductions associated with the projects are not double-counted and that the claims of carbon neutrality are valid.

      Carbon Offsetting Services.Infinite possibilities. Endless opportunities.

      Guarantee of Origin CertificatesGuarantee of Origin certificates (GOs) are renewable power certificates that can be used to document and report on the energy you consume that comes from a renewable source.

      A Guarantee of Origin (GO) is a digital certification validating that one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity has been produced directly from a renewable source. A renewable source of electricity generation could be wind, solar, hydro, biogas, biomass, or geothermal energy.

      GOs permit consumers to use 100% renewable energy and allow them to report reduced Scope 2 emissions per the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG-P), Scope 2 Guidance. This is known as market-based reporting where a company can report its emissions based on this metric. Its worth noting that not all carbon reporting reports on this basis for example SECR compliance reports on the location-based method still.

      What’s the difference between location and market-based methods?

      These are two methods for calculating the emissions linked to a company’s electricity use.

      > The location-based method models the emissions from your electricity consumption based on the power grid’s average emission intensity. This figure is reported by DEFRA and will update annually based on the overall generation mix in the UK. As the UK brings onstream more sources of renewable energy, then you would expect this metric to reduce the overall CO2 emissions. Conversely if the UK generation mix was made up of coal fired generation, then your location-based electricity emissions will be quite high.

      > The market-based method models the emissions from the electricity you’ve actually purchased. This approach considers energy purchased through the use of REGO certificates. Considering the emission intensity of the different energy sources, so your emissions will be lower if you’ve purchased renewable energy.

      Both the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Carbon Disclosure Project recommend using robust tracking systems to demonstrate that on-site electricity consumption derives from a specified off-site source.

      When looking at the voluntary carbon credit market, this is an overview on the types of carbon credits available.

      voluntary carbon credit market

      Reducing Scope 2 Emissions - Proving Renewable Electricity Consumption

      A guarantee of origin certificate is withdrawn from the market through a cancellation process. By what’s called retiring the certificate, the GOs and the environmental attribute of the electricity is allocated to a single end-user.

      This ensures that the certificate can’t be used or traded again. GOs are available in the UK and are known as Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin or REGOs for short. Certificates can only be cancelled for power consumption in the same region where the certificate was issued.

      With all electricity entering the same national grid network its origin gets lost in the mix.

      As REGO certificates are traded separately from the underlying energy market supply source, they match off any end-user electricity with a guaranteed renewable energy source, enabling you to green up your electricity mix at any time regardless of the supply contract.

      Although for smaller supplies it is often easier to source both the energy supply and the REGO element from the same supply contract.

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        Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin (RGGOs)

        For those companies also looking to green up their gas supply, they can also choose to source gas from a renewable gas source.  Biomethane is a renewable gas generated from biodegradable materials and serves as a direct replacement for fossil fuel natural gas. This green gas can be sourced from various sources such as anaerobic digestion, landfill gas, and synthetic gas (syngas) from biomass gasification.

        Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin (RGGOs) certificates are unique identifiers for each kWH of registered biomethane injected into the grid.  These RGGOs can be transferred from producers to brokers in the national database, and then allocated to end gas consumers either directly or via a green gas tariff provided by an energy supplier.

        When a gas consumer is allocated the RGGO they are in effect matching the gas that they have withdrawn from the national distribution network to a unit of “green gas” that was produced and placed into the same network. In the same way as the REGO market for electricity the RGGO will be retired and become unavailable.

        RGGOs do not track the physical flow of wholesale gas markets, instead gas consumers who are allocated RGGOs can make a claim to have consumed green gas.  With these green gas certificates, consumers can claim 100% renewable gas consumption and report reduced Scope 1 emissions.

        Carbon Offsetting Services.Infinite possibilities. Endless opportunities.

        Interested in claiming 100% renewable consumption?

        Interested in claiming 100% renewable consumption? Reach out to Catalyst today!

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          What is carbon offsetting

          Carbon offsetting involves compensating for CO2 emissions by investing in projects that reduce or remove an equivalent amount of carbon from the atmosphere, aiming to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint.

          Is carbon offsetting greenwashing

          Carbon offsetting itself is not inherently greenwashing, as it can be a legitimate strategy for addressing carbon emissions. However, it can become greenwashing if it's used as a substitute for genuine efforts to reduce emissions rather than as a complement to such efforts.

          Do carbon offsets work

          The effectiveness of carbon offsets depends on various factors, including the credibility and quality of the offset projects, as well as their additionality, permanence, and verifiability. When properly implemented, carbon offsetting can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy.

          Carbon neutral vs net zero

          Carbon neutral means balancing carbon dioxide emissions with equivalent removal or reduction efforts, while net zero extends this concept to include all greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors, aiming to eliminate or offset them entirely. In essence, carbon neutral focuses on CO2 emissions, while net zero encompasses all greenhouse gases.

          Carbon offsetting schemes

          Carbon offsetting schemes are initiatives where businesses can purchase carbon offsets to compensate for their carbon dioxide emissions. These schemes typically involve investing in projects such as reforestation, renewable energy, or methane capture, with the goal of reducing or removing an equivalent amount of CO2 from the atmosphere.

          Carbon offsetting uk

          In the UK, carbon offsetting often involves Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) and Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin (RGGO). REGO certificates certify the renewable origin of electricity generated from renewable sources such as wind, solar, and hydro power, while RGGO certificates provide assurance that the gas consumed is from renewable sources like biomethane.