Enterprise Rent–A–Car launch offsets
In a move to enhance their Environmental Platform, Enterprise Rent–A–Car has launched a scheme in partnership with ClimateCare offering carbon offsets to its UK retail customers. At a small additional cost to vehicle rental (based on the average emissions per hire period) customers can now reduce their driving emissions through the funding of our low carbon projects. Enterprise charitable foundation are adding to the scheme with a pound-for-pound match donation (up to a total of £500,000).
Lee Broughton, director of sustainability at Enterprise Rent–A–Car, commented: “Contributing towards carbon reduction projects is another way in which our customers can help to minimise the effect of their road journeys. Through ClimateCare, we can offer verified carbon offsetting projects that make a real impact on people's lives as well as on the environment.
We know that our business affects the world around us, so we have taken clear steps towards a more sustainable way of working. Our Environmental Platform is not a cure-all, but it's certainly a move in the right direction.”
Gold Standard registration for Uganda Stoves
ClimateCare's origination team are celebrating a significant innovation success in registering the first ever Gold Standard stoves project. The team continue their history of pioneering in this arena and this registration is no exception. The Ugastoves project joins 2 other ClimateCare registered projects to become one of only 13 registered projects with the Gold Standard board.
Image: Sue O'Connor
The sustainable development benefits will reach huge numbers of low-income communities across the world. As well as causing fewer emissions, the reduced expenditure on fuel will enhance family incomes. A second notable benefit is the reduction in kitchen smoke and subsequent improved health for stove users and their families. ClimateCare is expecting this Gold Standard project to save over a million tonnes of CO2 in forthcoming years.
Introducing the Eden Climate Fund
In a first of its kind offering, The Eden Climate Fund allows visitors and members of the public to invest in J.P.Morgan ClimateCare's projects in developing countries which reduce carbon in the atmosphere as well the Eden Project's growing programme of work helping people learn more about climate change within the UK.
The Eden Project has teamed up with J.P. Morgan ClimateCare to offer a unique opportunity to help tackle climate change both in the UK and in the developing world.
Each £10 donated to the Eden Climate Fund will provide:
£7.50 to save 1 tonne of carbon through JP Morgan's emission reduction projects
A minimum of £1.50 to be dedicated to education projects
A maximum of £1 to cover administration costs
Eden's programme includes educational projects with schools, the exploration of new technologies for a low carbon world, on-site climate change related exhibits, conferences and public events such as “the Sexy Green Car Show”. This exciting new collaboration with J.P. Morgan ClimateCare will help to expand the programmes further, reaching a wider audience and helping make a greater difference in tackling climate change.
You can learn more and donate to the Eden Climate Fund by going online at www.edenproject.com/climatefund or visit the gardens and biomes of the Eden Project, near St. Austell in Cornwall to learn more about climate change as well as a whole host of other displays and activities. To find out more about what's on at Eden see: www.edenproject.com
2009 ClimateCare projects
Our origination team continue to work extremely hard to make the highest quality emission reductions available, sourced from developing countries across the world. For 2009 we have introduced a further biomass, crop-waste power generation project and a solar power project designed to the Gold Standard.
Stranded Assets and Policy
by Mike Mason
Some weeks ago I argued that we must recognise the need for a zero fossil fuel society, and probably sooner rather than later. No-one, least of all in a democracy, is going to vote for a serious reduction in quality of life, so we will have to do it with technology.
We have the technology, or soon will have, and the cost looks a little high but perfectly acceptable. However this isn't just about changing light bulbs, or more efficient cars; on their own these can never get us to zero emissions. What we need is a whole generation of new infrastructure and capital assets. Changing our cars to electric means new ways of generating and distributing energy; improving public transport means new forms of road, rail and air transport with new roads, railways and types of airport; continued use of fossil fuels means new ways of capturing and burying CO2 and shifting gas use out of the household.
All these changes share some similar characteristics: they need planning by more than one agency; they need vast amounts of capital; and they will shape the way we live for a very long time. Some of our road systems hark back to Roman times; our railway network was established by the Victorians; our national electricity grid centres on coal mining areas developed a century ago; and our airfields were developed from the military airfields of 70 years ago. Not only infrastructure, but also our assets, are long lived. A power station may live fifty years or more between first planning and closure. The first 747 design studies began in 1963. New 747s coming off the production line today will fly for a further 30 years – giving an overall life for the design of 75 years or more.
We don't have that kind of time to solve the problem of global warming. Both the US and the UK have committed to an 80% cut in emissions in the next 40 years or so. In reality, after you subtract what is needed for agricultural emissions that feed us, and a few unavoidable things like methane leaking from old coal mines, this means Zero from fossil fuels. That means everything we do from now on that has a long life has to be consistent with a Zero emissions world.
The problem is that to get companies to behave like this they have to get the right signals and they will come from things such as the price of carbon. No company, however well intentioned, can afford to go bust. Bankrupt companies cannot build new infrastructure, or invent new products. The price of carbon, and its surrogates such as green electricity tariffs, is set by the will of politicians to reduce emissions. It is set rather low today, largely because of the prevailing political idea that we should ease ourselves into the low carbon world instead of biting the bullet and dealing with the difficulties immediately. It's not helped by the fact that policy is set by reference to the IPCC reports, which are always both scientifically out of date and reflect the lowest common denominator of consensus at the time of publication. Every single IPCC report has declared the problem more serious and more urgent than the previous one.
The result of a low carbon price will be that companies and governments develop the wrong kind of assets and infrastructure; they will use the carbon price as a measure of how much they should spend to get emissions down. Then, as we realise the increasing urgency of the problem, we will tighten the targets and increase the price. But in the meantime we will have wasted a huge amount of treasure, human resource and time developing the wrong kind of infrastructure. We will have to start again. If we aren't bold enough the second time we may have to repeat this process more than once. Then we will come to deeply regret not doing it right the first time.
As my grandmother kept telling me, ‘A stitch in time ..’
April 2009
Keep up to date with Mike's blog or read similar articles on Mike Mason writes ...
Image: Adeel Halim
India has a rapidly growing economy, placing increasing demands on energy supply to power its development. The electricity grid is dominated by fossil fuel powered generation which makes CO2 emissions per kWh relatively high (at approximately 0.9 tCO2/kWh). Common practice involves investment in medium or large-scale power projects, mainly due to the assured return on investment, economies of scale and easy availability of finances. This leaves the incentive for investment in renewable technologies very low, because of the higher capital costs and associated lower returns.
Image: Adeel Halim
Carbon finance is now being used to change the common practice and maximise the use of a renewable waste biomass product to generate clean energy.
Image: Adeel Halim
Empowering the people
In addition to valuable emission reductions, the project has brought benefits to local people and business. In an area dominated by rural farming, the plant has provided employment for many local people, both during its construction and now that it is up and running. And the factory itself is able to generate an income stream by selling green electricity to the grid, from a product previously regarded as waste. On a national level, the inflow of carbon credits from the project has helped create a model for the country's sugarcane industry that could be replicated widely.
See how little it can cost to offset your carbon emissions and make a really
important contribution to help to fund valuable projects like the Khatauli Biomass story.
© ClimateCare 2009. All rights reserved.
Registered address: 125 London Wall, London, EC2Y 5AJ
|