Voluntary Carbon Offsets

Please send your comments and questions to anja.kollmuss[at]sei-us.org

Consumers who are concerned about the extent of their environmental impact, but who cannot avoid flying completely, may wish to neutralize their travel emissions by purchasing carbon offsets. Individuals can calculate the amount of carbon they are personally responsible for and then purchase an offset for that amount. The funds the offset company receives are then used to implement and manage projects that avoid, reduce or absorb greenhouse gases through renewable energy, energy efficiency, or forest and other bio-sequestration projects.

There are dozens of companies that offer to sell you voluntary carbon offsets. But how to choose the right company?

This website will help you learn about offsets and how to select an offset project or company. The issues involved are complex and manyfold. If you'd like to delve into the subject matter, we recommend you download the whole report (pdf, 45p.) If you'd like to browse a specific topic, please use the menu on the left to guide you. If you are just looking for a quick overview, read our consumer handout.

Our study is by no means comprehensive. We hope that our paper and this website will help to contribute to a much need discussion about the value and the quality of carbon offsets. Please send your comments and suggestions to anja.kollmuss[at]sei-us.org

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Derik Broekhoff, Alastair Thompson, Charlie Heaps, Michael Lazarus, Sivan Karta and William Moomaw for their comments and suggestions on this paper.

Below you can read the preface to the report.

Voluntary Offsets For Air-Travel Carbon Emissions
Evaluations and Recommendations of Voluntary Offset Companies
Anja Kollmuss, Benjamin Bowell, Tufts Climate Initiative, January 2007
Revision 1.2; January 27, 2007 , Revision 1.3; April 5, 2007
We have received numerous comments since we first published our study. To keep this study as accurate as possible, we have incorporated many of the suggestions we received. Some of the offset companies have changed their practices since we published this study. We are not able to redo all the calculations, yet we have indicated their changes whenever possible. We have indicated each section that has been edited since the original version.

Preface (last edited for revision 1.2)
This paper examines the rapidly growing market for voluntary carbon offsets. The report focuses specifically on how to evaluate offsets companies to offset air travel emissions.

Voluntary offsets are of limited value to solve the increasing threat of climate change. They should not be seen as a way to buy “environmental pardons.” In most countries, jet fuel is currently not taxed. Yet to internalize some of the environmental cost and to more accurately reflect the true costs of air travel, such a tax is vital. In December 2006, the E.U. unveiled draft rules for capping airline emissions. The E.U. is proposing to regulate intercontinental flights that use European airports for takeoff or landing. Under these plans, there will be a cap on CO2 emissions – airlines would get a certain number of pollution allowances each year. The U.S. is opposed to such legislation and is threatening legal action against the proposed rules on the grounds that such legislation would violate trade rules. (For a summary on the legislative action and links to several policy papers see: European Climate Policy Dossier, available at http://www.eel.nl/categorieen/index.asp?sub_categorie=168&c_nr=5&linktwee=ja)

To successfully avert the looming catastrophes that we are facing with global climate change, very strong and swift regulatory action is needed on the state, national and international level. No voluntary approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions should be allowed to delay or replace a mandatory federal cap on carbon emissions or a worldwide tax on jet fuel.

Yet voluntary carbon offsets do have their place in spurring innovation and financing carbon-reducing projects that would otherwise not have happened. They are especially appropriate for individuals who have done their best to reduce their personal emissions but would like to neutralize some of the unavoidable emissions that they are responsible for. Air travel is a good example for this. First and foremost, we all should work on minimizing our air travel. But some flying might be unavoidable, for example for academics who need to attend professional conferences, for musicians who tour internationally or for expatriates who wish to visit their relatives.

As is to be expected with new business opportunities, the quality and standards of voluntary offset companies vary widely – or as one of our reviewers put it: “It’s the Wild West!” Some offset companies are run by very seasoned carbon trading experts who are well versed in all the issues that surround carbon trading, others are much less experienced and are either using carbon offset to further promote their environmental or humanitarian missions or see the emerging market as a financial opportunity. Neither of these objectives is inherently bad, if the offsets that are sold meet high standards, yet unfortunately that is not always the case.

This report and the 2-page pamphlet ‘Flying Green: How To Protect the Climate and Travel Responsibly’ offer guidelines for consumers wishing to offset their emissions. It takes a look at 13 companies and organizations that sell offsets to individuals. The report does not provide final answers but is meant as a think piece to raise the many questions that still need to be addressed in this newly emerging field. We hope that this paper, together with other reports that have recently been published will help catalyze discussion and will ultimately help steer the market towards offering high quality carbon offsets to concerned citizens.

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