frequently asked questions

• How is offsetting my CO2 going to help reduce the threat of climate change?
  
• What can I offset?
  
• Why are you not a charity?
  
• How do you choose which projects to fund?
  
• Do you use tree planting to offset?
  
• What percentage of the cost goes to the project?
  
• Can we pick a project to give money to?
  
• Are you involved in the Kyoto Protocol or EU Emissions Trading Scheme?
  
• Why do you not do projects in the UK?
  
• How can we be sure that your projects are making the CO₂ reductions that you claim?
  
• 'Carbon Offsets' or 'CO₂ Offsets'?
  
• How do you calculate the CO₂ emissions?
  
• Why do different offset companies have different prices?
  
• Why is the weight of CO₂ emitted by my car greater than the weight of the fuel I use?

How is offsetting my CO₂ going to help reduce the threat of climate change?

Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing global society. We all need to make every effort to reduce our emissions as much as we can; we should offset what we cannot reduce now.

Offsetting tackles climate change by;

• making real reductions in amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere which would not have happened without us.
• providing funds for renewable technologies and efficient appliances
• raising awareness of the impact that our lifestyles have on the climate
  

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What can I offset?

With Climate Care you can offset any activity that creates carbon emissions, here is a non-exhaustive list of examples:

• house electricity and gas energy
• car fuel emissions
• public transport use
• air travel
• weddings
• holidays
  
• business emissions
• business travel
• hotel stays
• emissions spanning a set period of time

We have a number of easy-to-use calculators online now and a dedicated team to help you with any calculations that cannot be performed online.

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Why are you not a charity?

Climate Care is a company limited by guarantee and has no shareholders.

When Climate Care started, as now, it was felt that Climate Care's service should not be simply seen as 'doing good'. We want people to pay us for a service, and thereby make the link between their actions and the climate. This is subtly different to people donating money to good works.

There is also the concern that if cleaning up pollution was adopted as a charitable goal, then the scale of the problem would mean that charitable giving to other sectors could be severely curtailed.

So Climate Care is not a charity, as we do not believe it should be left to the charitable sector to clear up pollution.

We are sometimes asked why we do not convert to being a charity, as there may be tax advantages of doing so. We have considered it in the past and we may consider it in the future but, for the reasons outlined above, it would be difficult to do so.

For more information about the structure of Climate Care, see Our Organisation.

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How do you choose which projects to fund?

We have eight years' experience of sourcing projects and have developed a strong network of contacts around the world with which we can develop high quality CO₂ offset projects with strong sustainable development credentials.

For example, Climate Care provides funding for the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy. A consequence of this is that we have the opportunity to view a large range of projects which are applying for the Awards from around the world. The prizes are awarded each year to innovative local sustainable energy schemes that both protect the environment, tackle climate change and make real improvements to people's quality of life.

We are always interested in hearing about any potential projects. If you would like to know more about applying to Climate Care for project funds, please see the Developers page.

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Do you use tree planting to offset?

Planting trees as a form of carbon sequestration cannot be seen as a solution to climate change when taken in isolation. Climate change needs to be addressed by reducing emissions through developing renewable fuel sources or boosting efficiency, rather than by focusing on sequestration. We're excited about the potential for carbon offset money to provide funds to stimulate the development of these essential technologies. Approximately 20% of emissions each year are from deforestation and forest fires, and reforestation is a relatively low risk project technology, making it attractive as a source of offsets.

Our general portfolio for 2007/8 does not include reforestation at present, however we do consider sourcing emission reductions for some large client portfolios.

For a complete list of our current projects, see Our Portfolio.

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What percentage of the cost goes to the project?

Climate Care Trust Ltd pays a royalty of 10% of turnover to Climate Care Ltd. (the company that provided us with initial support and finance), which is included in the offset cost. The remainder of the money, 90% of turnover, is spent either as capital costs for our projects or on the staff and office costs involved in running Climate Care.

In 2006, 54% of the cost per tonne of CO2 offset was spent directly on projects and their management. Our website and client service is included in the cost of the offsets. This is a slight reduction on 2005, due to the fast growth of the business. We expect to increase to over 75% in the coming years.

To see a breakdown of our costs and financial performance, please see our Annual Reports.

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Can we pick a project to give money to?

Climate Care pools your money to fund a portfolio of projects reducing CO2, rather than allocating it to a specific project. We have chosen this approach to ensure that we can best manage our CO2 reduction commitments by balancing the following:

• Cost: Some projects are more expensive per tonne of CO₂ than others but may give 'higher quality' emissions reductions or wider benefits than other projects.
• Risk: Some projects offer great rewards but carry a real risk of not going ahead or of not delivering as many emission reductions as expected. The portfolio approach means that should this occur, we can still meet our obligation by allocating more money to other projects.

If you are looking to offset a significant volume of emissions, for example in excess of 30,000 tonnes, we may be able to source you an exclusive project or portfolio.

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Are you involved in the Kyoto Protocol or EU Emissions Trading Scheme?

Under the Kyoto Protocol, developed countries have agreed to legally binding targets to reduce their overall emissions of greenhouse gases. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme is a mechanism set up to help the member states of the EU achieve these greenhouse gas emissions targets.

Climate Care makes greenhouse gas reductions for the voluntary market, which means that our offsets cannot be traded in the EU scheme or counted towards the Kyoto targets of member states.

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Why do you not do projects in the UK?

The UK government has a legally binding Kyoto target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If we made CO2 reductions in the UK, these would be double-counted on behalf of you and also on behalf of the UK government towards their target. That means we'd only be helping to make reductions that had already been promised.

We are committed to an approach of reducing CO2 emissions beyond those that have already been promised across the world through the Kyoto Protocol. So by funding projects in developing countries without Kyoto targets we ensure that the CO2 emissions reductions that you buy go beyond current commitments.

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How can we be sure that your projects are making the CO₂ reductions that you claim?

To ensure that our projects achieve the CO2 emissions that we claim, we make sure that;

• a third party report be obtained
• the CO2 reductions be monitored on an ongoing basis
• any shortfall is made up in other projects

Please see Project Principles for more information about how we ensure the CO2 reductions we make on your behalf are verified and additional.

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'Carbon Offsets' or 'CO₂ Offsets'?

The term 'carbon' is often used as shorthand for carbon dioxide (CO₂), as in 'carbon footprint' and the 'carbon market'. Care must be taken when referring to what has been offset, however. There is a whole basket of gases that are contributing to climate change, and these are collectively referred to as 'greenhouse gases' (GHGs).

The main greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO₂), and this has become the standard measure of emissions. Other GHGs are converted into 'carbon dioxide equivalents' (CO₂e) in order to have a common currency when discussing emissions. Climate Care follows this practice. Our calculators work out the quantity of greenhouse gases, and express them in the figure of tonnes of CO₂. Our projects also reduce emissions of greenhouse gases other than CO₂, and convert these to carbon dioxide equivalents.

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How do you calculate the CO₂ emissions?

When calculating the CO₂ emissions from your activities, Climate Care uses government published figures to convert units of energy to CO₂ emissions.

This is quite straightforward for a building's energy use and land transport. However, there are currently some scientific uncertainties surrounding the calculation of emissions from air travel.

For this reason, we frequently review the science in order to calculate emissions from your air travel. In 2005 we commissioned Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute to review the science and the assumptions we used.

Read more on how our calculators work.

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Why do different offset companies have different prices?

When you buy an offset, the price will be determined by two aspects: the amount of CO₂ that is calculated from your activities and the price you are charged to offset this amount.

Firstly it is possible that the CO₂ emissions calculated can be slightly different due to the assumptions made.

However the main difference is likely to be the price of the offset. Our current price is £7.50 per tonne of CO₂ bought online. Other companies may charge different prices to offset a tonne of CO₂ or to calculate your emissions.

Our price reflects the cost for us to make a reduction of 1 tonne of CO₂ through our portfolio.

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Why is the weight of CO₂ emitted by my car greater than the weight of the fuel I use?

Over 80% of the weight of fuel is made up of carbon. When you burn fuel to release energy to drive the car, each carbon atom reacts with two oxygen atoms from the air. As the oxygen atoms are more than twice as heavy as one carbon atom, the CO2 emitted by burning one kg of fuel will weigh over 3kg.

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