Is it worth Offsetting?

Image: ICN/JS

Brian Austin from Laudato Si UK Animators writes:

I wonder how many of us know what our carbon footprint actually is? The average for those of us in the UK is around 6.0 tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHG) each year (Our World in Data) For comparison, it's 6.76 tonnes globally and 17.7 tonnes in the US and 9.8 in China.

Many of us have made a good effort to reduce our own carbon footprint as much as possible. We have, for example, made sure our homes are well insulated, installed LED lighting, moved to a green energy tariff, reduced our meat consumption, car use, food waste, and clothes shopping and increased recycling and reuse of items. Some of us may have transitioned to an electric vehicle, installed solar panels, or an air-source heat pump. But we may not, even then, be carbon neutral and we will still be putting CO2 into the atmosphere. If not before, is it now time for offsetting?

What is 'offsetting'?

Responsible carbon offsetting allows us to compensate for hard-to-reduce greenhouse gas emissions that remain after our efforts to reduce them as much as possible. This is done by paying someone else to reduce their carbon emissions by a similar amount by investing in projects such as renewable energy, reforestation, energy efficiency, methane capture, switching fuel or even providing efficient cookstoves, etc., often in poorer countries already suffering from the effects of climate change to a greater extent than ourselves. These projects often provide additional social, economic and environmental benefits.

But carbon offsetting gets a bad press. Quite rightly so, since it has been used by some companies for 'greenwashing', that is, they have been accused of making misleading claims about their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, especially by offsetting. This may be because the projects funded may not deliver the promised benefit or take longer to have an impact, or they may be cancelled out by droughts, wildfires, disease or other factors. Offsetting may be used without making structural changes to reduce emissions directly, making claims to be environmentally friendly while continuing to engage in high-emission activities.

One major problem with offsetting is knowing how much GHG is likely to be drawn down, since it is difficult to calculate, or the projects may not directly reduce the carbon emissions entering the atmosphere. Another problem is knowing how much the cost of a tonne of GHG (a carbon credit) should be, usually measured in an equivalent amount of CO2, called CO2e. Companies may be able to buy a carbon credit for 1 tonne CO2e at just £3 per tonne, so they can claim to be moving to net zero with cheap offsetting without making real efforts to reduce their emissions.

But there are safeguards. The Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAS) points out that carbon offset projects can have the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Gold Standard Voluntary Emission Reductions (VER) or Certified Emission Reductions (CER), which all give a level of confidence in their authenticity and reliability.

The advantage of responsible offsetting is that it can fund meaningful projects that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, if invested in poorer countries hard hit by climate change, can contribute to sustainable development, helping their livelihoods. It also makes us think about the greenhouse gas emissions that we are each responsible for as we go about our everyday lives and the choices we make every day, in our homes, on our travels, the food we eat and what we buy or throw away.

Having said all that, for those of us who want to reduce to be carbon neutral personally, offsetting is probably the only way to do it; then we need to ask three questions: where can we go to do the offsetting? how much will it cost per tonne? and what projects will it be spent on? Here are a few examples:

'Carbon Neutral Britain' claims to be the leading carbon offsetting initiative in the UK. For £6.99 each month an individual can offset 15 tonnes of CO2e per year, more than the UK average personal carbon footprint, and an additional 240 trees planted in Britain. They then purchase verified carbon credits for projects around the world, including 10% on carbon offsetting or sustainable tree planting projects in Britain.

Another is 'My Carbon Plan' which supports UK-based carbon offset schemes, currently mainly tree planting projects and a pilot scheme for retrofitting. On their site, they enable you to measure your footprint with a carbon calculator, provide suggestions for reducing it, and offer to offset the average amount of 6.5 tonne for £5.50 pm.

Another approach is that of the 'World Land Trust', an international conservation charity which aims to protect the world's most biologically significant and threatened habitats by funding the creation of reserves and provides permanent protection for habitats and wildlife. You choose what you need to donate, so you need to measure your carbon footprint elsewhere first. You can buy an acre of land for £100 or £5 for a tree each or just donate a sum of your choice directly into their 'Action Fund'.

In addition you might be interested in a small Christian charity, 'Climate Stewards', who use projects through 'A Rocha', an international overseas network, for £25 per tonne CO2e. Their website requires you to calculate your own residual carbon footprint to determine your contribution; i.e. measure - reduce - offset. (It would appear that they have recently removed the idea of just financing the average UK carbon footprint for a fixed monthly amount that they previously offered).

Carbon offsetting could therefore play a valuable role in achieving carbon neutrality. Calculating our carbon footprint focuses our attention on what we need to do to reduce our carbon emissions. Then the residual impact that is hard to overcome can be offset. That's where carbon offsetting comes in. And by choosing valuable verifiable projects we can enable others to reduce their carbon footprint too.