CHURCH OF SCOTLAND RESPONDING TO CLIMATE CHANGE BRIEFING PAPER 1: CARBON OFFSETTING Introduction 1. As concern about climate change continues to grow so a number of responses have emerged to help address the challenge. Carbon offsetting is a technique that allows consumers to continue to buy goods and services that have a substantial ‘carbon price tag’ while seeking to reduce or mitigate the impact. The concept is controversial and has been subject to some criticism. This paper looks at some of the issues and makes recommendations on the use of offsetting. What is carbon offsetting? 2. The UK has a carbon based economy. A wide range of economic activities consume energy and produce carbon dioxide emissions; for example, most road and air transport, heating homes and offices by gas or oil, manufacturing and agriculture. Offsetting is a way of compensating for the emissions produced with an equivalent carbon dioxide saving. 3. Carbon offsetting involves purchasing ‘credits’ from emission reduction projects. The big idea is that projects will prevent carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. For example if a plane flying across the Atlantic emits about one ton of carbon dioxide per person into the atmosphere, then an offsetting project will somehow undertake to reduce emissions of carbon by one ton to compensate. 4. Due to the fact that greenhouse gases have a long life-span and tend to mix evenly in the atmosphere it doesn’t matter where gases are emitted in the world: the effect on climate change is the same. Airline offsetting schemes 5. A number of offsetting schemes have been developed. Some effectively offer to write off carbon emissions on payment of a small fee. Examples of offsetting schemes and costs use by major airlines are given in the table below. Carbon offsetting: Airline Schemes Cost of offsetting London – New York economy return Airline Scheme Cost Comments Air Canada Zerofootprint $19.20 CDN (£9.39) Assumes emissions of 1.2 tons CO2. The scheme started in May 2000 and supports forest regeneration project in British Columbia. To November 2007 has offset 2,224 tonnes of CO2 and planted 2445 trees. Air France Actioncarbone Eur 15.55 (£11.17) Return Paris-New York. Assumes emissions of 1.037 tonnes CO2; 85.2g CO2/passenger kilometre; and 3.4 litresfuel/passenger/100km. American airlines No advertised scheme British airways Climate care £9.43 Assumes emissions of 1.26 tons CO2. Climate Care projects include renewable energy, energy efficiency and forest restoration projects. Virgin My Climate £10.34 Assumes emissions of 1.086 tonnes CO2. Currently supports an agricultural waste to power plant in India and a hydro electric power scheme in Sumatra. Detailed and informative website. (Information as published on airline websites, November 2007) 6. The schemes suggest that for about £10 it is possible to offset the CO2 emitted by a round trip across the Atlantic. In order to verify this claim purchasers would have to satisfy themselves about the credentials of the scheme, where and how it operates and how it removes carbon from the atmosphere. Re-forestation projects, for example, may have a number of social and environmental advantages and trees do remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But forest growth is slow and forestry is necessarily a long term project. One transatlantic flight requires a substantial amount of tree growth to absorb a ton of carbon. 7. A range of other groups have developed an interest in offsetting schemes. A local example is the Vine Trust. Carbon Offsetting : The Vine Trust The Vine Trust is an international, interdenominational charity that targets its efforts on services for children, healthcare, enterprise and volunteering. It has established ‘Project Peru’ in partnership with Union Biblica Del Peru (Scripture Union Peru) to support children and the marginalized communities in Peru. The Vine Trust operates a carbon offsetting scheme ‘Cut the Carbon’ that offers participants the opportunity to invest in worthwhile projects with a positive impact of local communities in developing countries and which may help reduce carbon emissions. The Trust is offering individuals or organisations the chance to offset carbon emissions by planting hardwood trees on land surrounding their project at Kusi, in the Ancash province in the Peruvian Andes. The first trees will replace ones that have been used in the construction of Kusi. Thereafter the Trust we will be planting amenity woodland as well as trees that will eventually be used for timber. For further information see www.vinetrust.org 8. Such projects will have local social and environmental benefits and can help NGOs with fundraising. However it must be questioned whether they are likely to remove a substantial amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at any thing like the rate at which it is being emitted. UK Government 9. The UK Government is cautious about the validity of some of the schemes on offer and is preparing a code of conduct on carbon offsetting. The Government’s position is that: carbon offsetting is not a cure for climate change but it can help raise awareness and reduce the impact of our actions. TheUK Government believes most appropriate action to take is to reduce emissions. The Government DEFRA website offers the follwing advice: Offsetting is a useful element of what we can all do to address climate change for several reasons: * Providing the means to work out the emissions from our own activities helps raise awareness of our impact on climate change. Combined with reducing our emissions, offsetting can be used to address this impact. * When done in a robust and responsible way, offsetting leads to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in the area local to the offsetting project, often in developing countries. * Offsetting projects, such as those approved by the United Nations, provide a mechanism for investment in clean technology in the areas which lack it the most. Such investment can lead to the spread of low-carbon development across entire regions, further reducing climate change impact. http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/carbonoffset/index.htm The Critics 10. Environment NGOs are more critical. Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and WWF published a position paper on offsetting in 2006. Their main concern is that carbon offsetting does nothing to reduce carbon emissions overall and may be used as an excuse for inaction to reduce carbon emissions. They also expressed concerns about the credibility of some offsetting schemes and how offsetting claims could be verified. 11. The NGOs have given a cautious welcome to the Gold Standard, an international and independent standard. To qualify for the Gold Standard carbon offsetting schemes must meet a number of criteria. * they must be energy efficiency or renewable energy projects * there must be evidence that the project is making a real contribution to sustainable development and that it benefits the local community * they must only provide an energy service that helps the transition to non-fossil fuel based energy systems * they must demonstrate that a project delivers real emission savings which would not have occurred anyway under ‘business as usual’ Furthermore, the Gold standard excludes forestry, large scale hydro power (e.g. over 15MW) and energy from waste (incineration) projects. For further information please see the Gold Standard’s website: (http://www.cdmgoldstandard.org). Recommendations 12. Offsetting does provide one response to carbon emissions. It helps raise awareness of carbon emissions and draws attention to their importance. Some (but not all) airline websites now include calculators to allow passengers to calculate their emissions and links to offsetting schemes. It is encouraging that airlines like British Airways and Virgin are aware of the issues and are contributing to the debate – unlike some other airlines. 13. However offsetting is no substitute for reducing carbon emissions and is unlikely to make a serious contribution to tackling climate change. The global scale of carbon emissions is many times too large to be addressed by small scale offsetting schemes. At worst it is a diversion from the real challenge of reducing emissions and may deceive consumers into thinking they can buy their way out of trouble. 14. For these reasons carbon offsetting is not recommended as part of a carbon reduction strategy. If you are thinking of using a carbon offsetting scheme consider two main points. * Don’t rely on carbon offsetting to reduce your emissions : consider how to reduce your carbon emissions as a priority. For example do you need to travel and is their a low carbon alternative to air travel? * Only if there is no reasonable way to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions consider a carbon offsetting scheme. Find out who is managing the scheme, what projects are supported and where and how they remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Does the scheme meet the Gold Standard? Adrian Shaw Church of Scotland Church and Society Council 121 George Street, 0131 225 5722 Edinburgh, EH2 4YN ashaw@cofscotland.org.uk Phone: 0131 225 5722 26 November 2007 www.churchofscotland.org.uk Charity Number: SC011353