On Monday (16th July) Channel 4 broadcast its latest Dispatches programme, titled ‘The  Great Green Smokescreen’, which set out to ‘dissect the many solutions to global warming being marketed to consumers’.  The programme concentrated largely on carbon offsets, but also featured green energy tariffs and carbon labelling.

Climate Care welcomes press scrutiny of carbon offsets where it helps to explain the issues to a wider audience and promote high standards in the sector.  The ‘Great Green Smokescreen’ was not very successful at either of these. 

We would like to correct a number of misleading impressions created by the programme:

1. Carbon offsetting is not an excuse to pollute:  carbon offsets are a way of taking responsibility for unavoidable carbon emissions, just as recycling is a way of dealing with unavoidable waste.  Offset providers need to communicate this clearly but it is the responsibility of those buying offsets to use them responsibly.   Where there is a carbon footprint – and even the most Green have one ! – it should be offset.
2. There are standards for carbon offset projects:  in the past two years a couple of good standards have been launched for voluntary offset projects - both from NGOs (see Standards) - and these demonstrate that real, additional and verified reductions have been made.  All the projects that Climate Care has commissioned in the past year are being submitted either to these standards or to the United Nations CDM standard.  Dispatches ignored the important work being done in this area by organisations such as the Climate Group, giving the misleading impression that no progress is being made.
3. If a particular offset project makes lower than expected savings this does not necessarily affect the quality of the offsets:  Dispatches featured a carbon reduction project run by BP and pointed out that it was not making the savings initially expected, with the implication that this undermined the offsets being sold.  This misses a crucial point about credible carbon offsets, like those sold by Climate Care, which are based upon actual savings not expected savings. We guarantee that our customers offset purchases will always be honoured because we sell offsets from a portfolio of projects, whose total, verified reductions will be made to match the total amount of offsets we have sold.  Some projects save less than expected and some save more.   Climate Care manages this risk, which is an inevitable part of supporting pioneering work in carbon reduction, particularly in the developing world.
4. There is indeed disagreement over some carbon calculations, particularly for aviation, but this is no reason for inaction:  Dispatches pointed out that different carbon calculators give different results for air travel.  To its credit it explained that this was due to a lack of scientific consensus on measuring aviation’s impact the climate.  Unfortunately the programme also implied that  such uncertainty is a reason not to bother!  All action on climate change involves a level of uncertainty – we have to learn to live with this fact and not use it as an excuse to do nothing at all.  Furthermore, it is the increased interest in carbon footprints that is driving better information and more accurate calculations.  The specific differences between our main air travel calculator and the one we host for British Airways are explained on our website:  the former uses averages for the industry and includes a ‘multiplier’ for non CO₂ impacts, the latter uses data from BA’s specific fleet of aircraft and does not include a multiplier.  It is the ‘multiplier’ where there is most uncertainty in terms of the science.

The climate is in crisis.  We need fast, global action to reduce carbon emissions, and we have years not decades to succeed.  Critics of green products must start from this reality and look realistically at what tools can affect the global changes required.  Where the products offer a false hope and poor value they should be criticised.  Credible carbon offsets do not fall into this category.  They are an essential tool for tackling this problem on a global scale and for making the best use of the money available.

The major climate campaign 'I Count' is calling for the UK to “Help the poorest countries get access to clean energy, help them cut out poverty…”.  Climate Care is investing millions in projects that are already doing precisely this.   Unjustifiably negative and unbalanced press coverage of carbon offsets threatens an essential source of funds that is starting to make a real difference in the fight against climate change and poverty.

Those who offset their carbon should be proud of the part they are playing to help green our economy.