19 March 2008
There are big variations in how carbon offsetting schemes calculate people’s ‘carbon footprints’ and how much they charge to offset them, shows research by Which? Money.
When the consumer magazine compared the websites of 13 UK-based carbon offset companies, emissions calculated for the same West London couple’s home* varied from 1.15 tonnes with Carbon Footprint to 7.1 tonnes with The Carbon Neutral Company. The government calculator** gave an emissions figure of 4.31 tonnes for the test home.
To add to the confusion, the cost to offset a tonne of carbon dioxide varied from £7 a tonne to almost £23 a tonne depending on the website and project selected***. The overall cost to offset carbon produced by the test home ranged from £25 to almost £160.
Which? Money was concerned that many websites failed to give sufficient information about where donations go; very few revealed the proportion of donations that reach the offset project versus how much goes on administration fees. Climate Care was the most transparent, with Blue Ventures Carbon Offset, PURE and the World Land Trust also highly rated.
The government plans to introduce a voluntary code of practice this spring to cover carbon offsetting projects that comply with the Kyoto treaty on climate change, but it will not apply to non-Kyoto compliant schemes.
Only seven per cent of Which? members surveyed had used carbon offsetting schemes, but 68 per cent of those who had not would consider it in the future****.
Martyn Hocking, Editor, Which? Money, says:
“Carbon offsetting schemes offer to ease your conscience, but choosing which company to use can be very confusing as there’s no consistency in how they calculate your ‘carbon footprint’ or how much they charge.
“The new code of practice will help indicate which schemes meet standards of transparency and quality. As it doesn’t cover all schemes, we’d like to see the industry develop its own code of conduct so that people can donate with confidence and know that their payment is being used for a verifiable project.”
- Ends –
The full article “Is carbon offsetting worth the money?” appears in the April 2008 issue of Which? Money magazine. The article includes a results table for the 13 websites that Which? Money tested, with ratings for ease of use, project details and financial data as well as an emissions figure for a sample scenario and the payment required to offset it.
For further information, the full article, a copy of the magazine or an interview, please contact Nicola Frame
* A couple living in a two-bedroom semi in West London, spending £500 a year on gas and £300 a year on electricity; driving a petrol-engined Ford Focus 8,000 miles a year; taking one return flight each a year from London Heathrow to Barcelona.
** www.direct.gov.uk/ActonCO2
*** Carbon Offsets charged £7 a tonne and Carbon Responsible charged £22.64 a tonne for its most expensive product.
**** In August and September 2007, 2,645 Which? online panel members gave their views on carbon offsetting.
