The Pros and Cons of Carbon Offsetting

The film features 32 riders who perform stunning tricks as they rip through rugged terrain across North America and Europe, Burton’s newest documentary One World is an epic celebration of snowboarding.

As a leading sustainable brand–and a company whose customers depend on a healthy, healthy environment to follow their passions, Burton knew that making a good film was not enough. They also wanted to minimize the impact on the environment caused by all flights, snowmobile rides, and other emission sources generated by making the film. A accredited B Corporation, the company is a proven leader in advocating for climate policy and minimizing the environmental impacts of its products as well as operations.

For One World, Burton worked with Bank of the West to mitigate the production’s climate footprint by purchasing carbon offsets a popular method through which businesses and other organizations work to offset their environmental impact. Burton and the bank worked together to aid in the sequestration of 563 metric tons of carbon dioxide through the support of an effort to protect forests on the Alaskan coastline. This is equivalent to removing 12 vehicles off the road for a whole year.

Emily Foster, Burton’s environmental impact manager, says the firm’s approach in this case was a mix of idealism and practicality.

“We anticipate the day when people can travel the world and pursue their passions fueled entirely by renewable energy sources, but we’re not there yet as a whole,” Foster explains. “For emissions we can’t eliminate right now, we’re investing in carbon credits of the highest quality, verified that help reduce greenhouse gases and help protect ecosystems. Carbon offsets may not be the solution, we use them to hold ourselves accountable and to take action while alternative options that are low carbon develop.”

Carbon offsets, as Foster refers to they aren’t a perfect solution, but they’re useful in the process of transitioning towards a non-carbon future. It’s impossible to just change a switch and completely eliminate fossil fuels instantly. Therefore, for the time being, carbon offsets are a part of the equation in a world where forward-thinking and environmentally responsible players work towards the sustainable future.

We’ll look at a deeper understanding to carbon offsets – what they are, the reasons they are important, arguments in favor of them, and some of the criticisms made against carbon offsets.

What is Carbon Offsetting?

Carbon offsetting is a technique by which funds are directed to projects that help reduce global emissions. Companies or people often buy carbon offsets, instead of reduction of their carbon footprints in cases where emissions seem unavoidable, or sometimes they combine both in order to make their efforts to reduce emissions extend.

Carbon offset initiatives include energy-efficient cook-stoves in rural villages, biogas production from organic matter, and a range of initiatives that aim to reduce deforestation or regenerating degraded forests.

The process of certifying a project as being eligible to offset carbon isn’t simple. Carbonbay is responsible for guiding companies through the Byzantine regulation maze that have been put into within the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to make sure that not only are the emission reductions legitimate, but that there is any existing financing available for a project like this. It is generally a sign that they are a departure from the norm and have a low chance of success without credits. Emissions reduction credits allow projects to be compensated for each metric ton of carbon emissions eliminated. These can be accredited as part of CDM or other respected standards, including The Gold Standard, and the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).

“Carbon offsetting … aids environmental projects that aren’t able to get funds by themselves.”

Pros and Cons of Carbon Offsetting. Pros of Carbon Offsetting

Carbon offset offers benefits at both ends of the process It aids environmental projects that can’t secure funding on their own, and it also provides businesses with a better chance to decrease their carbon footprint.

A lot of companies aren’t able to reduce their emissions as much as they’d like. In some instances, it can be because their footprint is already small (e.g. software company), but they want to expand. Other industries, like heavy equipment as well as ocean transport, don’t have alternatives that are low carbon to meet their needs in the moment. By assisting in the financing of environmental projects that cut emissions, businesses can make their way up for emissions they cannot eliminate themselves.

Although many offset purchases are voluntary but there are some areas where offset purchases are required in order to adhere to local laws and regulations to avoid fines. This is another advantage of using the offset method. It provides regulators with a means to enforce environmental laws.

Some companies also use offsets to credibly claim that the majority or all of their operations are “carbon neutral” or “carbon positive.” Additionally, offsets provide an opportunity for these businesses to track their own carbon footprint. Many people are now more comfortable doing business with these companies.

Carbon offsetting provides valuable resources to projects that tend to sequester carbon, through the growth of forests, and other techniques or eliminate emissions, like renewable energy generation, or using clean energy appliances. By focusing on projects that are less likely to be able to draw other types of funding, such as a first-of-its-kind in the region in which they are located, they provide a valuable alternative to more conventional finance methods.

Once a successful project has been realized through offsetting and demonstrated its viability it’s generally simpler for follow-up projects to be able to draw funding from other sources.

Reputable studies have found offsetting to be a successful method to reduce greenhouse emissions. See details at carbon.credit.

Carbon Offsetting: The Cons of Carbon Offsetting

Many criticisms have been directed at carbon offsets, as well. Some are philosophical in nature, objecting to the idea that corporations with wealth can buy their way out, instead of taking on more direct accountability for their carbon emissions. Some argue that offsets weaken the pressure for more actions, such as the carbon tax. Are offsets letting polluters out of the loop too easily?

Other sources point to more practical concerns:

Certain forests protected by offsets have been later found to have burned or logged. It could or might not be deliberate by those receiving the credits.
Are the credit cards really needed, or could the project have been completed without them?
Are carbon measurements accurate? and can the entities monitoring the measurements be trusted perform proper accounting?
What is the problem with fraud?
Is global warming happening too fast for carbon offsets to be helpful?

There are some very pertinent questions. Although there is no perfect system, many of these concerns were recognized and addressed when both carbon standards and methods evolve.

Carbon offsets aren’t intended to substitute for direct action, but instead as a supplement or, in certain instances, as the sole available option. The airline industry makes use of numerous offsets because there is no feasible way for commercial aircrafts to fly without using fossil fuels. As part of an international program called CORSIA the airlines will be able to limit emissions in 2019 and 2020 and have pledged to offset any growth in emissions beginning in 2021.

Regarding the issue of forests disappearing after qualifying in offsets was addressed in the most recent VCS standard. The standard only allows payments to be made in the case of carbon sequestration of forests that has already taken place, for instance over the last decade. To reduce risk, a percentage of the credits paid are allocated to “pooled buffers” for unforeseen damages, similar to the insurance policies.

The way we measure is also changing. Renewable energy sources are simple to measure, since you only need to examine the meters. Land-use projects like forestry might be more difficult however, models are getting better and technology like GPS satellite imagery and drones have become helpful in creating a more precise understanding of how much carbon remains stored.

How to Track and Offset Your carbon footprint

Carbon offsets are common across companies. However, banks are collaborating with tech companies to help make consumers more involved. For instance, Swedish fintech startup Doconomy has joined forces with Finland’s Aland Bank to help regular people comprehend the carbon impact from the majority of their purchases.

The Aland Index calculates the carbon footprint of each item purchased by a buyer by analyzing more than 200 variables. Paula DiPerna, who was pioneering in the development of the world’s first cap-and-trade system in 2003. trade system in 2003, describes the index “a game changer” that converts the value of intangibles into dollars. Consumers then can use that dollar value to offset emissions created by an item to make their purchases carbon-neutral.

Based on Helena Mueller, head of Aland Index Solutions and co-founder of Doconomy, “the index was established to establish a global language for the climate in all personal finance management, and to establish a valid international standard and to give the planet a voice in every pocket and at every point of sale.”

Customers are able to access the index using the DO app. It’s currently only available in Sweden, but Bank of the West teamed together with Doconomy in order to make it available to US in conjunction with the 1 percent contribution to accounts. Planet account. With the mobile banking app, there is an Aland Index is applied to transactions to automatically calculate the carbon footprint of transactions made using the 1 percent rate for account. Planet debit card.

“The carbon footprint will be presented in pounds and/or kilo carbon generated as well as Carbon’s social costs, i.e. the true cost of a product or a service, when the negative effects of climate change are considered to be accounted for” Mueller says. Mueller. “The bank, in this case, Bank of the West, has then the choice to aid their customers to understand the carbon footprint of transactions, by the day and week, month and year.”

Armed with that information Individual consumers can take charge of their carbon footprint. It’s true that there is nothing you can do about the things you can’t measure.