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Carbon Offsetting
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Each individual is producing a carbon footprint, which is contributing to climate change on this planet. Around 40% of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions are produced through electricity consumption in the home. Carbon offsetting is way for individuals and companies to “pay back” their carbon emission debt.
The way carbon offsetting works is by paying a company to invest in renewable energy or energy efficiency schemes, which will reduce carbon emissions by the same amount as the carbon levels which an individual or business has produced.
Each individual should, of course, aim not to produce the carbon debt in the first place; there is nothing more effective in the fight against climate change than turning off unnecessary lights, making sure you don’t leave your appliances on standby and using less electricity to heat your homes by making sure they are properly insulated. However, for the energy consumption that it is impossible to live without, offsetting is one way of paying back your debt.
There are many schemes which advertise offsetting programs, but ones which invest in renewable energy or energy efficient projects, which can prove what they say they are doing are generally more recommended by environmental watch-dogs.
Reforestation (or tree planting) projects, bio-energy or gas capture schemes are common but not as effective as others because they do not invest in the types of infrastructure needed for a low carbon future.
There are currently no legal guidelines for offset companies, but there are a number of accreditation bodies. These include:
DEFRA’s Code of Best Practice (launched in June 2008) which gives a Quality Mark to show that a company has met the Government United Nations standards for being a reliable offset scheme.
And, The Gold Standard, which identifies offset projects that meet good sustainability standards, deliver benefits to local communities and are based on energy efficiency or renewable energy and has been created by environmental groups.
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