{"id":49,"date":"2020-03-20T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/?p=49"},"modified":"2020-05-20T10:40:01","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T09:40:01","slug":"carbon-offsetting-the-answer-to-the-climate-change-or-part-of-the-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/2020\/03\/20\/carbon-offsetting-the-answer-to-the-climate-change-or-part-of-the-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbon Offsetting: The answer to the climate change or part of the problem?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\ntransport sector currently represents over\na quarter<\/a> (27%) of Europe\u2019s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and two\nof the biggest impacts you can have on your personal carbon footprint is using\na car and taking flights. It is not surprising, then, that one of the current\ntrending topics around tackling climate change is carbon offsetting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has led to a major increase in questions our team has received over the last 6 months: How can I offset the carbon associated with my research and travelling for work? What is the University\u2019s policy on offsetting? Do carbon offsetting schemes deliver what they advertise?<\/em> These are questions I asked myself when I decided to offset my own household\u2019s emissions. Navigating the many schemes on offer was confusing, but after a lot of research I learnt what to look out for when considering carbon-offsetting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly,\nwhat is carbon offsetting?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon\noffsetting is a form of trade. It is based on calculating how much CO\u2082 is emitted by a certain activity that you are doing, and\nthen funding a project designed to reduce carbon emissions by the same amount\nelsewhere. This is supposed to \u201cneutralise\u201d the effect of your emissions. There\nare three main types of Offset schemes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Reforestation\/forest preservation\ncarbon offset projects sequester CO\u2082 emissions from the\natmosphere in trees and soil and have many co-benefits for communities and\nlocal wildlife.<\/li>
  2. Energy efficiency projects reduce\nthe need to produce more energy now. An example of this looking to modern energy\ncooking in rural and developing countries. Our very own Prof. Ed Brown is leading\na global\nresearch project<\/a> on this.<\/li>
  3. Renewable energy is critical to our\nfight against climate change. Experts agree we need a substantial reduction in\nCO\u2082 over the next 40-50 years, meaning renewable energy\nmust replace fossil fuels now.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The projects are usually based in\ndeveloping countries and most commonly are designed to reduce future emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Does\noffsetting deliver what is advertised?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While projects protecting forests\ncan be a good way to reduce GHG emissions, tree-planting offsets should be analysed\nwith a critical eye. It\ncan take 40 years before a tree reaches maturity and is able to sequester 1\ntonnes of CO\u2082. There is also uncertainty around the longevity of these forests, as it is\ndifficult to guarantee that the trees will be protected and\/or reach maturity\nin order to sequester a substantial amount of carbon. An example of this is\nwhen Coldplay\nbought 10,000 mango trees in India to offset their \u2018A Rush of Blood to the\nHead\u2019 album in 2002, only to see many of them die several years later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Unregulated tree-planting projects have\nalso seen the introduction of fast-growing invasive species and monocultures to\ncut costs, resulting in damage to native forests and a reduction of\nbiodiversity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There\nis a strong argument that renewables are the best form of official offset, as\nthey are addressing the main issue that is causing climate change: our reliance\non using fossil fuels for energy. There is also usually more permanence and the\ndata is easier to quantify than tree planting schemes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What\nis the University\u2019s carbon footprint?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As a University we are still in the infancy of understanding our total carbon impact as there are so many direct and indirect emissions associated with the Universities activities. We know that our Scope 1 & 2<\/a> emissions equate to 28,000 tonnes of CO\u2082, but we anticipate that Scope 3 could be 4-6 times this. Figure 1 shows the breakdown of each scope. Scope 3 emissions are much harder to calculate due to the fact much of it sits outsides of the University\u2019s control, and we are working to improve our data collection and reporting methods but a lot of this remains out of our control. At this moment in time, we know we can only calculate around 80% of our business travel due to the quality of data and this is estimated at around 5,000 tonnes CO\u2082.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Figure 1: Scope 1,2 & 3 emissions Source:\nGHGprotocol.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What is the University doing to address this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We have over 7,000 trees on campus excluding our ancient woodlands, but this only scratches the surface in terms of CO\u2082 absorption. After some basic calculations, our Gardens team have estimated that our trees on campus sequester roughly 1% of the University\u2019s CO \u2082 emissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Back in 2010 the University began planting its Carbon Meadow as a voluntary offset scheme. This had the added benefit of providing extra habitat for campus wildlife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The University doesn\u2019t currently\nhave an offset scheme, this is something we are exploring but we first need to fully\nunderstand the total environmental impact of the University\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What\nshould we look for when offsetting?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Quantify, Reduce & Eliminate First <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    First think about the\nsteps you can take to reduce your current negative environmental impact. Once\nyou have explored all areas for emissions reductions, offset those emissions\nwhich cannot be eliminated. After you\u2019ve done everything you can, quantify the\nemissions you will need to offset.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Additionality<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Additionality looks at whether\nthe project would have occurred regardless\nof the investment raised by selling carbon offset schemes. If the project\nwould have happened anyway then this is not additional, and you are not truly\noffsetting your emissions. This is one of the most\ncomplicated areas to navigate when it comes to offset schemes, generally due to\nthe lack of traceability, but it also one of the most important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Standards<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Several standards have recently emerged: The Voluntary Carbon\nStandard (VCS), the Gold Standard, and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity\nStandard. While they focus on different types of offsets, all the standards\nshare the goal of bringing continuity across the many carbon offset schemes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Co-benefits<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While the main goal of offsetting is to reduce GHG\nemissions, there can be several benefits on top of this. Some offset schemes\nalso support projects with positive economic & social impacts, such as\nemployment or enhanced biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    In\na bid to be carbon neutral, offsetting can play valuable role, but should not be\nthe only solution. We should be looking to move towards cleaner industries and\nlifestyles and offsetting should not be an excuse for companies and individuals\nto ignore this. Industries can often hide behind offsetting and ignore the\ninefficiencies elsewhere in their businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In\na world where being face to face is only a video call away, do we really need\nto travel for meetings all the time?  I\nrecently attended the EAUC Green Gown awards in Glasgow and a student from\nExeter University, who was nominated for an award, made the decision not to travel\nto Glasgow due to high carbon footprint. We as individuals should be\nconsidering our environmental impact before offsetting the emissions we can\u2019t\neliminate. Voluntary\noffsets can easily become an excuse to overindulge and not feel guilty about\nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Sustainable Development Goal 13. This blog links to SDG 13. For more information on the SDGS check out our newsletter<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Carbon offsetting is increasing in popularity but with so many schemes what does it all mean and can it mean we overlook improving our own environmental impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":639,"featured_media":60,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"lboro_blog_alternative_thumbnail_image":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[17,19,14,20,21],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carbon","category-travel","tag-air-quality","tag-carbon-offsetting","tag-climate-change","tag-sdg-13","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/639"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions\/251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}