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Carbon offsetting offers people a means to compensate for the carbon emissions they produce through energy consumption. Around 40% of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions are produced through electricity consumption in home. This means that every individual has a carbon footprint to offset.
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.
Of course, the most effective way to help fight climate change is cut down on the amount of energy each person produces, for example, by turning of the lights when you leave a room, never leaving electrical appliances on standby and ensuring that your house is insulated. However, offsetting is still a useful exercise which could help slow down global warming.
But which off-setting scheme to go for? Environmental watchdogs generally recommend supporting a program which invests in renewable energy or energy efficient projects, and, importantly, can prove what it says it is doing.
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.
Carbon offset companies are not currently subject to any tailored regulations, but there a number of accreditation bodies. These include:
The Quality Mark, given by DEFRA, which shows that a company has met the Government United Nations standards for being a reliable offset scheme.
And, The Gold Standard, which is a type of certification introduced by environmental groups. It identifies offset projects that meet good sustainability standards, deliver benefits to local communities and are based on energy efficiency or renewable energy.
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