Quality standards are critically important in the carbon market, and for any company selling carbon offsetting and management services.

In part, this is about the standards of an emission reduction project – VCS, CDM, Gold Standard etc.  In part, it is about the Protocols used for carbon footprinting – WRI/WBCSD, guidelines and factors of national governments and so on.

But the nature of carbon management requires that Quality Assurance of genuine value needs to be about the whole chain. In a world where 27% of offset projects under-deliver their emission reductions and full registries are still not up and running properly, it is critical to buy from a carbon partner with demonstrable integrity and third party reviews and assurance from the point of CO2 measurement through to offsetting and communication. 

This is The CarbonNeutral Company. Over 10 years, we have built a leading edge QA programme which supports the brands and businesses we work with. 

The Programme

• Our entire service is operated according to a public standard: the CarbonNeutral Protocol, a detailed document reviewed and updated every quarter by our Independent Advisory Group. The Protocol covers carbon footprinting and parameters, target setting, offsetting, communication
• Branding.  We award our brand with specific brand marks and certifications which are clearly defined by the Protocol
• Guaranteed offsets.  Against a market average of 27%, circa 4% only of our project investments have under-delivered emission reductions
• Carbon Report and Accounts..  Annually we commission a respected third party (this year PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) to review and ‘assure’ our carbon stocks and contracts with our clients. This review is conducted in accordance with the PARC, the Policy for Accounting and Reporting of Carbon, and made public on our website
• We have an Independent Advisory Group of climate change experts from academia, NGOs and business.  For more information, please see the Group’s Terms of Reference, and the current and past membership of the IAG
• Register of offset projects.  To promote transparency, we  publish a full register of carbon transactions and contracts.  We are the only carbon offset company to do this
• Experts for carbon footprinting.  We bring in external experts for carbon footprinting – such as The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management, ESA Associates, Batelle Consulting
• Our  CSR policy - our own CSR policy and brand philosophy demonstrates that we 'practice what we preach'

10 Point Plan for Selecting a Carbon Partner