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Carbon Offsets

Helping the Environment with Carbon Offsets

Australia's recent policy shift on climate change has resulted in ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and fast-tracking a national emissions trading scheme, due in 2010.

Many businesses are already taking steps to minimise their environmental impact via carbon offsets.

Carbon offsets are purchased from projects that prevent or remove an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Carbon offsetting should be part of a broader climate strategy. Ideally, businesses would first accurately calculate the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from their operations, products and services.

The objective is to avoid and reduce these emissions where possible, and then finally offset those emissions that cannot be reduced further.

Entire operations, specific areas of business – for instance fleets or events like the Toyota Fleet carbon reduced Melbourne Motor Show event held last year – can be offset with accurate calculation.

For the offset to be legitimate the emission reductions must come from a project that would not have happened anyway. In other words, the reductions are additional, they must be real (measurable), verifiable, permanent and not double-counted or double-sold.

There are varying qualities of carbon offsets and offset providers. National and International standards and accreditations help purchasers choose the right offset for their business.

The following Australian websites provide more information on carbon offsetting and offsetting retailers:
carbonoffsetguide.com.au
carbonoffsetwatch.org.au
choice.com.au/choicegreen
climatechange.gov.au/greenhousefriendly

Types of Carbon Offsets

Renewable energy projects include wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and some hydro generation.
Renewable energy projects are generally long-lived projects that continue to displace fossil fuel energy generation in the future. They directly tackle our reliance on fossil fuel energy and create an incentive for growing the renewable energy industry.

Energy efficiency projects can include upgrading a building or factory, using better energy management technology, switching fuels and installing energy saving appliances/products in the home.
They employ better processes or technologies to generate the same output, while reducing the amount of energy used. These projects help to educate and promote behavioural change towards ongoing efficiencies and reductions in fossil fuel use.

Bio-sequestration or forestry projects work by soaking up (or sequestering) carbon already in the atmosphere, effectively negating the effect of carbon released elsewhere.
Offsets can be purchased, which account for carbon already sequestered and also for carbon which is expected to be sequestered over the trees' lifetime.
These projects can provide additional environmental benefits such as habitat recovery, biodiversity increase and protection, salinity and erosion control.

Methane flaring projects burn landfill gas to reduce emissions entering the atmosphere.
Capturing and burning this methane enables the generation of energy and prevents methane escaping into the atmosphere.
Methane produces 21 times more global warming greenhouse pollution than an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide.

Waste diversion projects dispose of waste in ways that avoid it going to landfill, where it would release methane into the atmosphere. Organic waste can be processed and used for compost, without releasing methane