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1. Questions about how we are organised
2. Questions about CarbonNeutral®
3. Questions about carbon offset projects
1. What type of an organisation are you?
We are a for profit limited company based in the UK. The company is owned by institutional investors, founders, private individuals, management and staff.
Why is The CarbonNeutral Company a business and not a non-profit?
As a business, we believe that being able to deliver both profit and business-benefit (to both our clients and to us) is the most effective way to encourage practical action on climate change and sustainable carbon offset solutions. More than 200 corporate clients - spread across a range of industries and sectors - agree, as do our thousands of individual customers.
As a business, how do you make money?
We attract consultancy fees through our work to measure climate change impacts and by providing advice on how to manage these. We earn money when we purchase and then sell carbon credits for our CarbonNeutral clients. And we earn agency fees through the design and implementation of communications programmes for clients wishing to engage various audiences.
How does The CarbonNeutral Company invest its money?
When you buy from The CarbonNeutral Company, you need to be assured that what you have bought is actually delivered – whether that is an emission reduction or a gift product. To meet this expectation, we invest in a range of different activities. This includes the purchase of ‘carbon credits’, sourcing projects, contracting, monitoring projects, verifying that what was contracted is actually delivered. It also includes ‘buffer’ stock: in the unlikely event that we discover a project is failing to meet its contract and the project developer won’t do anything about it, we guarantee to our clients that any shortfall will be covered by us from other projects at our cost. Our quality assurance programme is described under ‘what we do’.
Over the years, we have also invested significantly in building awareness of climate change as an issue for both business and individuals. This has involved sponsoring key events and research as well as funding a team of consultants who engage with organisations on the action that they can take to address this issue.
Why are pop stars and celebrities involved with The CarbonNeutral Company?
Music and film celebrities - like the rest of us - both cause and are affected by global warming. They are happy to work with The CarbonNeutral Company to use their influencing ability to reach hundreds of thousands of people. A large part of our marketing spend is invested into PR and press relations and our 'pop star' clients are important to the business and to the issue of carbon offset - they help raise awareness of, and communicate the issues, to a wide range of audiences.
2. Questions about CarbonNeutral®
What does CarbonNeutral® mean?
CarbonNeutral is the registered trademark of The CarbonNeutral Company. It is the point at which the equivalent amount of CO2 produced by a manufacturing process; distribution system and / or product use is equal to the amount being removed. It could be removed through the purchase of technology offset or forestry sequestration programmes. A CarbonNeutral programme involves assessments of carbon emissions, reductions of emissions at source, and 'offset' of unavoidable emissions.
Does carbon offset provide a solution to global warming?
On its own, carbon offset does not provide an answer to global warming but it does have a large part to play in the overall approach to carbon management. It provides the vital first step in engaging business and individuals to consider the implications of their CO2 emissions. As well as encouraging our clients to reduce emissions at source, we also help them offset their non-reducible emissions. Technology offsets are part of the reductions-at-source strategy. The characteristics of forestry offset are such that, in addition to being able to offset a specific project's CO2 emissions, over time it can also help re-absorb the existing high levels of atmospheric CO2.
3. Questions about carbon offset projects
What kinds of carbon offset projects are used in your CarbonNeutral services?
Our CarbonNeutral offset projects are selected against the highest possible environmental standards.
One of the key ways to stop global warming is to use new technology, such as wind and hydro energy, as opposed to burning fossil fuels. We channel some of our customers' money into projects to do just that. In India, for example, we have enabled local generators to switch from diesel to biomass (natural compost with lower CO2 emissions). We then use the savings in CO2 emissions to balance out some of our customers' CO2 production - thereby helping them to go CarbonNeutral. Our technology projects not only reduce CO2 emissions, they help to promote rural economies and local communities.
Our forestry carbon offset projects are native species which are managed to recreate long-term natural woodland and forest - this helps create green public spaces and new wildlife habitat.
Do you pay the full costs of the carbon offset projects?
No, our purchase of the carbon rights in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and new forests provides only one element of the total establishment costs. For all 'carbon offset' projects (trees or climate friendly technology), the CarbonNeutral protocol makes 2 specific requirements regarding project additionality :
• The project activity must have been established after 1st January 2000
• The project activity must be undertaken beyond normal commercial practice and legal requirements
In the case of UK forestry, we support new afforestation and reforestation projects and do not buy carbon offset from existing forestry schemes. The carbon finance complements and/or is used to leverage additional grants (including government grants), and will enable a project to happen faster or to a better specification than would have happened without us.
How can I be sure my money gets to the right carbon offset projects?
The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management negotiates contracts with technology and planting partners on behalf of The CarbonNeutral Company. They maintain live records of which technology projects have been supported (and where) and how many trees have been planted (and where).
To add an additional layer of transparency, The CarbonNeutral Company retains PricewaterhouseCoopers to review the systems by which the company operates, and to assure all its carbon-management chain. This lends further integrity to the CarbonNeutral brand, and all of The CarbonNeutral Company' systems.
Who are the technology offset partners?
We have a number of organisations that we partner with to offer technology offsets to clients. For example, we help fund a project that converts diesel-powered electricity generators to run on pyrolised biomass fuel (a fuel based on woodchips). The biomass power produces less carbon dioxide than the old diesel generators, which means a drop in emissions, and hence carbon credits. As well as reducing CO2 output, this project supplies the villagers with cheap electricity, as well as providing much-needed employment and technical know-how. Thereby achieving positive sustainability and helping the environment.
Who are The CarbonNeutral Company's planting partners?
Who are the forest offset partners?
The CarbonNeutral Company works with forests at over 60 sites across the UK, USA, Mexico and India. Our planting partners range from Community Forests and local authorities to Wildlife Trusts. See our forests section for a full list.
Why don't you support technology projects in the UK?
The UK, along with most other industrialised countries, has ratified the Kyoto Protocol and with this comes the obligation to meet an emissions target. Under the Kyoto Protocol, if Country A comes under its target, it can sell excess 'allowances' to a Country B that is struggling to reduce emissions to meet its target. There is an issue, then, if a project in Country A sells carbon credits directly to the market because that project will already be counted as part of the CO2 reduction figure for Country A. This is double selling. The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol starts 1st January 2008 and so any emission reductions generated after this date are faced with the double counting issue. As such, The CarbonNeutral Company does not source post-2007 emission reductions from industrialised countries.
How do you find your partners?
We welcome any organisation with a potential technology offset project or planting partner to talk to us. We are keen to talk to organisations that want to work in partnership with us to encourage people and business to be more 'carbon responsible'. E-mail Maria Cappelen if you would like to know more.
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