TRAVEL EXPERT
blue
into the
When the term ‘carbon offsetting’
first entered our vocabulary, most
people thought of trees. Pollute
the atmosphere via a form of
travel, then ‘offset’ it by planting a tree to suck in
all that nasty CO2 and produce oxygen. Hey presto,
your trip’s become ‘carbon neutral’ and you can feel
quite smug and virtuous.
Well, inevitably, it is not quite as simple as that.
Offsetting can include an array of projects, such as:
• Renewable energy schemes that fund wind, solar,
hydroelectric and biofuel projects
• Gas recovery or destruction: for example,
methane collection and combustion from landfill
• Land use changes: for example, soil management
techniques
• Purchasing credits from Emissions Trading
Schemes (see below)
• Funding energy efficiency projects in other
countries, such as low-energy light bulbs
EMISSIONS TRADING
There are two types of carbon marketplace:
the regulated and voluntary market.
Businesses can purchase offsets in the regulated
market via ‘credits’, which are linked in with
emissions targets set by the Kyoto Protocol and
which can also be traded; for example, if one
company has come in under its targets, it can sell
to another which has come in above target.
34 travel expert
Is carbon offsetting just hot air? Adam Coulter investigates
connect magazine | september 2009
Voluntary credits have also been established by
numerous climate change groups and vary both in
their cost and what projects they go towards.
THE OFFSET DEBATE
All of this activity is welcome but, since the phrase
first popped up, the offset debate has moved on.
So, on the one hand, we have those who consider
it a way of taking effective action.
On the other hand, we have those who believe
it is a distraction from the much bigger picture:
preventing climate change.
Because, at best, all offsetting can do is to help
things stay the same. And, as most of us know,
we have to do a lot better than that.
THIRD ON THE LIST
So, where does CWT stand on the debate?
connect magazine asked CWT’s resident green
champion, Sandy Moring, senior director public
sector & sustainability, her views: “Repairing the
damage you have done by offsetting should really
be the third option,” she explains.
“The first should be to remove emissions entirely,
and clearly that is not possible when travel forms a
key part of a company’s business. Second should be
to reduce emissions. This is much more attainable
and something we can and do help corporates with.
And third should be offsetting emissions.”
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