Carbon Offsetting As A Sustainability Initiative
You may have difficulty finding sustainable ways to handle some of your business’ activities, such as airplane flights or eliminating a less-than-sustainable packaging material that ensures your products get to customers safely. Many people tackle issues like these with carbon offsetting.
What Is Carbon Offsetting?
Carbon offsetting is the process of negating your carbon footprint (the amount of CO2 generated by one of your company’s actions) by paying for someone else to engage in a sustainable activity, such as planting trees, supplying someone with energy-efficient lightbulbs, and funding wind power initiatives. You can use calculators on certain company’s websites to determine the amount of carbon generated by the activity and select a project that saves that same amount of carbon.
Should I Use Carbon Offsetting As Part Of My Sustainability Efforts?
This is a controversial topic. Some people believe it to be ineffective and that it encourages people to ignore opportunities to improve their business’ carbon footprint from within. You definitely want to investigate the programs offered by the company you choose to ensure that the money is being used most effectively. You can learn more about the controversy here: A complete guide to carbon offsetting from The Guardian
Carbon offsetting has its place when used alongside carbon reduction programs in your business, but it should never be used as a standalone sustainability measure. Always look for new ways to improve your business’ efficiency. It is okay if you have to take baby steps, because it is unrealistic to expect yourself to make a complete overhaul at once. You may want to use these programs to reduce the effects of activities that are waiting to be improved.
You might also want to look at NRDC’s information on carbon offsetting to help you begin most efficiently.
What Are Some Carbon Offsetting Companies?
If you do want to utilize a program of this type, here is a list of companies to get you started:
And this is a directory of providers all over the world – The ENDS Carbon Offset Providers Directory