If you like this vlog and want to receive notification of new posts, then please register for our free email newsletter. You can also view other blog posts from The CarbonNeutral Company and download our free carbon management whitepapers.

Great change has a habit of emerging from crisis

I recently attended the 25th anniversary celebration of SustainAbility - one of the UK's most influential consultancies, founded by John Elkington and Julia Hailes. This is the outfit that translated the nebulous concept of sustainable development into actionable business terms with a raft of finely crafted 'thought to action' publications, including:

• The Zeronauts: Breaking the sustainability barrier (2012)
• The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World (2008)
• The Chrysalis Economy: How Citizen CEOs and Corporations Can Fuse Values and Value Creation (2001)
• Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business (1998)
• The Shrinking Planet: U.S. Information Technology and Sustainable Development (1988)
• The Green Capitalists: Industry's Search for Environmental Excellence (1987)

The formal part of the evening's proceedings put the topic 'What’s next in the coming 25 years' up for discussion. And a question from the floor touched the zeitgeist of the evening - "how do we survive and escape the current crisis let alone think about sustainable economic development". That prompted two memorable rhetorical responses:

Great change and major gains in human well-being have a habit of emerging from crisis. World War II was the last great example. Can we afford to squander this one?

and the second:

The threat of global terrorism mobilised $trillions since nine-eleven, while the issue of climate stability struggles pitifully to gain traction. When will climate change find its Osama bin Laden?

I don't think climate change will find its Osama. The issue is too diffuse - geographically, over time, and across massively complex political, industrial and natural 'ecosystems'. But I do think it will spur an industrial renaissance when it finds a compelling vision that unleashes innovation.

When we launched the CarbonNeutral blog, one of the first things I covered was the research we did into who had the most compelling vision for a low carbon world. We looked at the work of NGOs, consultancies, local governments, business, media and faiths. Although there was some truly great and inspiring stuff around, there was nothing we felt could ignite and unleash the energy and aspirations of the ~7 billion people who inhabit the planet.

Fast forward two years, squint hard, and we can begin to see the outline of a sharper vision coming into focus through the work of another leading UK consultancy and advocacy group, Forum for the Future.

Forum for the Future's vision for 2025

Recently Forum launched its FutureScapes project with Sony to explore what the world look might like in 2025 and examine to role that technology could play in enabling sustainable lifestyles in the future. It's not about predicting so much as imagining the possibilities. They've produced four scenarios and brought them to life creatively as films. They have invited wider participation. If you want to get involved, you can create a video blog about how you imagine your future and the role of technology in it; upload it onto YouTube, tag it with FutureScapes, and it'll join a growing collection of 'vlogs'.

The sustainable development concept was brought into every-day use with the publication of "Our Common Future" in 1987 by the Norwegian politician and ex-premier, Gro Bruntland, working to a United Nations brief. Ever since, politicians have struggled and failed to develop policies and regulatory frameworks that translate the concept into reality.

So, it is heartening that while wavering policies in the UK undermine capital investment in a low carbon infrastructure, organisations like SustainAbility and Forum for the Future are going back to the well-spring of all great renaissances – innovating and pioneering businesses in the private sector. That is where a sustainable future is being wrested from the crippling grip of our common crisis.

Add you comments below to let us know what you believe is coming in the next 25 years. You can also register to receive our blog updates for further insight on a low carbon future.

The CarbonNeutral Protocol is the document that guides our process for certifying our clients CarbonNeutral®. If you're a CarbonNeutral® company, then the process you've been through was subject to a version of The CarbonNeutral Protocol.

Anybody signing up to a new certification or renewing their certification will be certified according to the newest version, so it's worth taking a look at the more important changes that have taken place in this version. The changes most likely to affect our clients are included in this blog, so all you need do is read on:

Scope 3 emissions standard

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development recently released a new standard: "Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard". This document provides guidance for companies preparing to report their Scope 3 (i.e. indirect) emissions and splits Scope 3 emissions into 15 distinct categories.

Whilst potentially a little frightening to the casual observer ("15 categories?!"), it's worth noting that a number of the categories won't be relevant to the "average" business. Items such as "Franchises" and "Investments" simply won't feature in a standard GHG Inventory, but this is still a great, robust document that has the potential to bring clarity to value chain reporting across multiple industries.

Our new Appendix D in The CarbonNeutral Protocol looks at each of the 15 categories and highlights the GHG emissions sources or processes to be found in them.

Additionally, Table 1 in Appendix B has been altered to align with the Scope 3 categories. This table defines the GHG emission sources that are required or recommended in order to achieve one of our CarbonNeutral® entity certifications. The Scope 3 emissions have been numbered and re-named in order to match the standard. You'll probably notice that particular categories haven't been required or recommended. This is because, as mentioned above, we don't feel that they are relevant to the vast majority of our clients.

Of course, if you should want to include more Scope 3 emissions in an assessment than we currently require, we can certainly help you to do so.

Treatment of Recycled Waste Streams

Annex C has had one of its sections amended ("Treatment of recycled waste – Substitution within GHG assessments") to respond to recent changes to certain emissions guidelines regarding treatment of waste streams.

Until recently, it was widely considered standard practice to zero-rate recycled waste streams. DEFRA (and some others) recently changed their accounting practice and applied a non-zero GHG emissions factor to waste that gets recycled. This is due to a more significant change in the way recycled waste streams emissions are being calculated by DEFRA, making the calculations "substitutional" in nature, rather than "attributional". Appendix D goes into more detail regarding the difference between the two (as does this guidance paper by one of our assessment partners, which helped to guide our thoughts on the issue.)

We think it makes more sense to keep the whole of your assessment "Attributional", rather than mix and match, so we recommend and give our clients the option to "zero-rate" their recycled waste. This is a bit of a break from DEFRA, but we think it's the more robust approach.

New certifications

We strive to provide certifications that are relevant and useful to our clients. As part of this we are also launching some new certifications with this version:

CarbonNeutral® division - This certification is requires all of the same GHG Emission sources as our CarbonNeutral® company certification, but can be applied to specific divisions within a large company.

CarbonNeutral® small business - This certification requires all of the same GHG Emission sources as our CarbonNeutral® company certification, but can only be applied to companies that meet the definition of a small business (defined in Annex B Endnotes of The CarbonNeutral Protocol).

CarbonNeutral® voyages - This is a new addition to our CarbonNeutral® activity table and includes the GHG emissions you'd expect to see included in a voyage.

For a complete list of the GHG sources required and recommended with these and all of our other certifications, turn to Annex E of the new version of The CarbonNeutral Protocol.

Updates to the PAS 2060 Table

The cross compliance tables have been moved from Annex A to Annex G. Also, we've filled in some more details on the PAS 2060 compliance table. Therefore, if you're interested in PAS 2060, take a look at it. We can also help your business to self-certify to PAS 2060, if that's a route you're looking at taking.

Commitment to constant improvement

However, one of the changes I'm most proud of can be found on the inside cover. Just recently we were awarded "Best Offset Retailer" for the second year in a row by the Voluntary Carbon Market Survey and that logo now sits under the logos of the internationally recognised bodies we work with and support.

As you can see, The CarbonNeutral Protocol is an evolving document. If you have comments you'd like to make, or suggestions for improvements in a future version, feel free to add them to the comments section beow or get in touch with us. I can be reached at andrew.rouse@carbonneutral.com. We can't promise to incorporate every suggestion, but we'll certainly think about it.

The process of a greenhouse gas assessment is identical to that of a diet where you have to start by completing a ‘food diary’ over the period of a week so that you can then analyse exactly what you’ve eaten and the calories associated. Once you know what your carbon footprint is, you can begin to understand the emissions associated with your business at a more granular level and look at ways to improve efficiency and set reduction targets.

Simple, eh? Except data doesn’t come in consistent measurement units, people move around throughout the year, and there are a myriad other inconsistencies that inevitably arise. So where to begin?

A good starting point for me was taking full ownership of this project and not getting too many people involved or indeed relying on others too heavily for information. I also made a realistic deadline for myself to get each section completed by, so that I was still able to manage my day-to-day workload and make it more of an achievable task.

Lastly, I chose a system where I could input and save data as I went, in one place that could then be easily accessed by a third party assessor for review. The best platform for this was an online solution. The offline method is still a valid way of conducting a greenhouse gas assessment but it is more time consuming for both data gatherer and assessor. The time spent collating a number of spreadsheets and having to juggle different types of data in various formats is saved, and the ongoing email exchange with an assessor is no longer relied upon as a way of tracking progress. Online has the advantage of a more sophisticated system that frees up time to focus on other elements of the environmental strategy, while also promoting insight into how the assessment is building.

Once the system is selected it’s time to begin the task of data entry. First, I sought out all energy bills from our finance department for all of our offices from which it was straightforward to obtain our annual usage in kWh and GBP, USD or SGD spent. Next it was waste, which for London was the easiest section to complete as our waste management company already send us a monthly report that breaks down the volume by land-filled, composted and recycled waste. For New York I had to ask that they monitor their waste disposal over a week and let me know what the total amount of bin bags (landfilled and recycled) was. From here I was then able to extrapolate this figure over a 12 month period.

The business travel section is where this whole project became more of a challenge and where my mathematic skills were really tested. Again comparing it to my diet analogy, this would be the section of the food diary where the sugar in my tea, biscuits, wine gums and chocolate bars (yes, all plural) have to be recorded. Ouch.

The data supplied was in £/$/€ spent, litres of fuel used as well as miles/km travelled and was a mixture of staff expense forms and reports from a travel management company. Such a confusion of information called for a fresh approach. Therefore I decided to implement a new system. Now, every employee has to state the number of miles travelled for each journey as opposed to simply listing destinations and costs associated. Not only does this mean that employees are involved in the process of helping me collate data but they also become more aware of how their business travel, be it via road, air or rail, contributes to the overall carbon footprint of the company. My hope is that this will also encourage everyone to evaluate each trip and ensure they make the most of them.

So the results? The most significant thing to mention is that over the past three years our emissions have decreased. This is encouraging but there are certain areas we can still look to improve. Business travel is always an area of dense emissions for a high percentage of our clients and one that is not always as straightforward to tackle as switching off lights and monitors. Unless some significant, immediate investment is made either in something like video conferencing equipment or hybrid vehicles, it is challenging to make substantial emission reductions. Business travel is often an area many companies choose to offset the associated emissions. It is difficult to justify not travelling to see a client, prospect or colleague when the benefits far outweigh the handicaps of doing so. In a growing company where emission reductions can be made more easily elsewhere in the business, an offset strategy is a solid solution to this perennial problem.

And, after all my hard work, what happens next? I think my first objective is to relay to the company what our total footprint is and ask for suggestions on how we think we can improve. It is important to engage employees at this level as they are each responsible for a percentage of the total and are a key part of the process in making sure this number continues to decrease. For more hints and tips to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of your organisation, please download our free Carbon Measurement Guide and Carbon Reduction Guide. Please also add any hints and tips to the comments section below that could benefit other readers.

Thanks,

The 21st March 2012 budget delivered by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne was a much leaked and anticipated balancing act. It chipped away at the UK deficit by adroitly spreading the pain of taxation to favour the poor, squeeze the middle-classes, tear a strip off the rich, gently fleece pensioners, and spur on wealth-creating business.

It allowed most to hold the faith in the Coalition Government's commitment to austerity to tame the UK's £1trillion national debt. But it has shaken trust in the Coalition's statement on taking up power in 2010 that it would be the 'greenest government ever'.

Mid-course correction favours growth over 'green'
Twelve months ago in a blog that looked at the April 2011 budget, some credit was given to the UK government for figuring out its priorities - taxing carbon to fix the deficit, spending money on making fossil fuels clean, and investing in the 'low hanging' reduction opportunities in energy efficiency.

In this budget, there is evidence of a mid-course correction - favouring economic growth over low-carbon investment. Kill the Carbon Reduction Commitment (carbon tax) because it costs more than it raises; secure gas and oil supplies closer to home before worrying too much about decarbonising it; keep a steady hand on the Green Deal which provides subsidies and private finance to improve energy efficiency in buildings; and, hope that the newly inked pact between the UK and France on a civic nuclear renaissance delivers.

The budget signals the potential scrapping of the deeply flawed CRC by this autumn, possibly replacing it with a simpler form of environmental taxation (think for example, the Air Passenger Duty). It commits £3bn in tax allowances to North Sea oil and gas investment, and it signals the removal of red-tape barriers to development in rural areas. It signals mistrust in the EU ETS by setting a floor price for carbon equivalent to £9.55 per tonne of carbon dioxide in 2014/15 - good news if it were a Europe-wide price floor, punitive for UK business as it is not.

Energy dependence is shifting from the Middle East to the Far East
The UK's renewable energy sector is suffering from the Government's unwavering focus on large-scale solutions to decarbonising Great Britain. Despite a successful High Court challenge to the Government's untimely reduction of solar energy feed-in tariffs, the industry is still struggling to find a place on the world stage. That was amply evidenced at the recent Ecobuild Expo in London, where solar covered the largest area of the jammed ExCel Exhibition Centre. However, that space was dominated by a dozen or so well established Chinese companies. The Chinese are competing with confidence against the bruised and disillusioned domestic players for dwindling opportunities in the UK's renewable energy market.

EcoBuild exposed how the UK's international competitiveness is coming under increasing pressure from developing economies which have market leading low-carbon technologies which are using carbon finance to spur growth.

Private finance and the carbon market - "UK needs to try harder"
Future budgets will need to boost market-based approaches like the Green Deal and Cap & Trade in lieu of taxes. Cap & Trade both increases government revenues (on the sale of allowances), and they release vital private sector capital when offsets are part of the design. Just what the UK needs to fill the holes that are opening up in the country's low-carbon strategy.

Here are some of the key messages to emerge from the presentations, and some of the inspiring examples given. Please add your thoughts in the comments section at the end of my blog.

It’s about the impact of what you do, not what you do.

Siemens responded to the megatrends of population growth and climate change by putting sustainability at the heart of everything they do, including innovation programmes. They now have the largest environmental portfolio in the world, covering environmental technology, renewable and efficient energy projects, and healthcare.

In 2011 it saved 300million tonnes of CO₂ – and £35bn of revenues. Their short term aim is to save 400million tonnes of CO₂ and deliver £40bn revenues.

Ian Bowman, Head of Sustainability for the UK, counselled that behind the impressive figures lay some tough ethical challenges. In the wake of the Japanese nuclear disaster Siemens took an ethical decision to exit from nuclear technology. This was potentially very costly for the business – but they felt it was the right ethical decision and that once you start taking a position on ethics you have to deal with every situation ethically and strongly.

It’s about sticking to what you are good at and doing that to support others to help themselves.

Robin Foale, Managing Director of Santander Business Banking, has the remit to decide how best to support SMEs, including social enterprises, in their growth. His team of business advisors are usually recruited locally, meaning they can respond to their clients. Robin changed his credit criteria a day after the riots in Croydon, London to help businesses recover. His manager in Croydon visited every single business on the high street. As a result they saw 623 applications and granted in excess of £2.6million. They are actually getting money to businesses that need it.

Having set up and run three companies himself, Foale believes big business like Santander has a role in helping SMEs and that this starts with understanding and listening to their needs.

It’s about collaborating and partnering throughout the value chain.

Desso uses its ‘circles of architects’ events to co-create innovative and ecofriendly designs. This resulted in a cradle to cradle approach to sustainability in their carpet tiles. As Stef Kranendjik, their CEO, explained, a cradle to cradle carpet is fully recyclable meaning a specifier doesn’t have to worry about meeting legislation as they will be far ahead of it.

When the idea was first mooted some raw material suppliers didn’t wish to work with Desso to achieve low or zero impacts – it was a big step, as the resulting carpet required a 15% increase in prices. However Desso opted to work with those suppliers who were willing to go ‘beyond compliance’, and have delivered a product that has increased its market share from 15% in 2007 to 23% in 2011.

It’s about having a clear statement about what you will do – not just talking about what you have done – and about finding the step changes for your business away from the current resource use.

“State your big issues and why you have a stake in them,” said Graham Precey, Head of Corporate and Social Responsibility at Legal and General. He stressed that many companies think they have to have the answers to these issues. The common tendency is to explain them at length in a sustainability report, yet as an investor Legal and General finds that sitting down and talking to a potential investee for ten minutes is a far quicker and more meaningful way of establishing what really matters to that business.

Instead he suggests being clear on your campaigns – put your issues out there and you’ll find people come to you and say they can help you meet your social and environmental objectives.

Which leads to a final, underlying point contained in many of the presentations at the summit:

It’s too big for any one organisation to do on their own, and if you don’t do it you won’t have a business in 10 years time.

The willingness of so many businesses to come and share their experiences, and the number of people who were looking to meet other businesses who could help them go further in achieving societal and environmental aims as an integral part of what they do suggests that this is a message that many businesses now understand.

Did you attend the Responsible Business Convention? What were the key messages you identified? Please share them using the comments section below and register if you would like to receive notification of new blog posts.

REDD+ BULL: Elephants stroll through protected
habitat in Wildlife Works' Kasigau project, Voi
province, Kenya (The CarbonNeutral
Company, December 2011)

In my recent blog on carbon finance and forestry, I noted that ’Carbon finance has not made an impact on forest ecosystem protection because forests have been given a bit-part in the market mechanisms of the UN’s Kyoto Protocol (KP)’. That fact has not gone unnoticed by the UN’s Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), and at its annual Conference of the Parties to the KP in 2007 in Bali, the concept of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) got its first real blast of oxygen. And since then, a number of international organisations (including the Global Canopy Project, the World Bank, Rights and Resources Initiative, and The Redd+ Partnership to name a few) have worked tirelessly to ensure that flow of oxygen is not cut off by byzantine administrative processes in the UN, in-fighting amongst nation states and NGOs with different views on how to do REDD, and a chronic lack of committed funding to get projects off the ground.

The final text to come out of Durban had quite a bit to say about REDD and many REDD supporters felt that Durban made tangible progress in recognising the importance of measuring and verifying climate benefits delivered by REDD projects, and in acknowledging the rights of indigenous peoples whose livelihoods depend crucially upon access to forests ecosystems.

Not enough paper to cover the cracks

However, the Durban Platform is far from a workable solution with funding adequate to the task of halting and reversing deforestation. And that despite the Stern Review tagging reducing deforestation as the “single largest opportunity for cost-effective and immediate reductions of carbon emissions”.

With all the focus on international negotiations, it is easy to overlook real progress being made in the non-regulated or voluntary carbon market, where organisations like the Verified Carbon Standard Association (VCSA) have provided mechanisms to generate tradable carbon credits from REDD projects, and the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) has developed a standard to evaluate social, environmental, and economic impacts to ensure an overall net positive benefit to climate, communities, and natural ecosystems – leading to the more rigorous definition of REDD+ projects.

Hitting the ground – and skies - to discover the true value of REDD+

One of the first organisations to combine the VCS and CCB standards in a working REDD+ project is Wildlife Works. Their Kasigau project is located in the corridor that routes the national road and railway line that connects Mombasa - Kenya’s most important port - with the capital Nairobi, and carves one of the world’s largest National Parks – Tsavo - into East and West sections.

Tsavo National Park is home to all of the African Savanah’s great mammals, from lion and elephant to rhino and wildebeest, and 500 species of birds. Elephant and wildebeest, in particular, use the Kasigau corridor to migrate between East and West sections of the park in their search for seasonal water and grazing.

The corridor is home to some tens of thousands of people in villages and community ranches in which cattle are grazed, cash crops are grown, and trees are felled for charcoal. Wildlife Works’ Kasigau project is focused on one ranch which has implemented a REDD+ programme to protect the forest ecosystem from unsustainable exploitation. They hope that success in this first project will lead to many other ranches joining the programme.

The CarbonNeutral Company was one of the first purchasers of carbon credits from the Kasigau project, and since our first purchase less than one year ago 16 clients have bought and retired these credits as part of their offset inclusive carbon management programmes. So, that is where I went after Durban to ‘ground truth’ the value of REDD+ projects.

Good REDD+ projects focus on peoples’ needs

All along the roadside from congested Mombasa to the project, local people sell large sacks of cooking charcoal to the traffic en route to Nairobi. The charcoal is made from the surrounding forests and is one of the major causes of deforestation in the area.

I arrived at the project mid-afternoon and with day one’s programme pretty much shot due to travel delays, project manager Rob Dodson wheeled out a gyrocopter – used as an effective way of inspecting over 200,000 hectares of project land - and we spent two hours flying over the Kasigau corridor, Tsavo Parks, and adjacent community ranches. We saw hundreds of elephants in the project area, along with giraffe, buffalo, and various antelope. Also three carcasses of poached elephants.

I was able to see water holes created by Wildlife Works to keep elephants away from the community’s crops and gardens, and sustainable charcoal wood-lots pump-primed by the project with saplings and fencing. Rob used the gyrocopter to take the GPS positions of people illegally collecting wood for charcoal kilns, and radioed foot patrols so that they could investigate.

We looked down upon the project HQ offices, the tree nurseries, experimental hot-houses, organic clothing factory, school, a well-equipped garage and mechanical workshop, and a training centre where guest volunteers stay. It is these activities which in aggregate give local communities access to sustainable incomes as an alternative to unsustainable harvesting of wood, clearing the forest for cash crop agriculture, and poaching elephants as a source of income.

It’s about people first, then the trees

On the second day, I was able to visit most of the things we’d seen from the air and meet the people involved in running the project. The lead ranger for Wildlife Works explained that the project does not arm its wardens, so villagers and poachers know that they do not pose a danger. That has helped enormously in establishing trust and respect. The people managing the tree nurseries told me about natural pesticides and herbicides they create from local organic ingredients making them independent of imported, expensive chemical alternatives.

I met local people and community leaders who work with Wildlife Works to direct carbon finance raised through the sale of REDD+ carbon credits to projects most likely to relieve human pressure on the forest and wildlife. I visited projects in which Wildlife Works is a contributing partner – such as a local school where classrooms built by Wildlife Works house computers provided by the Kenyan Government and HP.

My overall impression was of a REDD+ project that is likely to succeed because it uses income from carbon credits sales to develop alternative and sustainable livelihoods for affected communities - knowing that if that is done well, the trees will look after themselves.

Supporting REDD+ now will deliver a better regulated market in 2020

Across the world project developers like Wildlife Works are putting carbon finance to work on equally challenging and rewarding REDD+ projects, ahead of any regulatory requirements to do so. And our clients are choosing REDD+ carbon credits in their voluntary offsetting programmes – not just for their climate benefits, but because good REDD+ projects done well are an investment in significantly more than carbon reductions.

The UN process has a mammoth task to develop internationally applicable modalities for REDD. Even when those have been developed, and finance raised for the expansion of REDD across all key forest zones, there will be no substitute for on-the-ground experience, in-situ capacity and knowledge, and the learning from these pioneering initiatives that are leading the way.

To read more and see a video of the Wildlife Works’ Kasigau project, visit our carbon offset project page.

If you like this blog and want to receive notification of new posts, then please register for our free email newsletter. You can also read other blog posts from The CarbonNeutral Company and download our free carbon management whitepapers.

Obed Nelovholwe, Nova Institute’s Field Work
Manager demonstrates the dramatic decrease in
smoke associated with the Basa Magogo technique
(in foreground) compared to conventional method
(in background) in the car-park of Avis Rent A Car
South Africa’s HQ (CarbonNeutral, December 2012)

In the US, Republican Party nominees for the 2012 presidential election are being tested on whether they believe climate change is real, and what climate policy responses they will champion if elected into office. That means the debate about the science of climate change is experiencing the usual electoral season “hot spot”.

NASA’s recently released 26 second video showing 131 years of global temperature variations is bolstering the “it’s real” camp. It’s worth watching as it shows how global temperatures have risen around 0.8°C from 1880 to 2010 as atmospheric CO₂ concentrations rose from 285 to 390 parts per million.

NASA’s scientists have also been working on solutions. A research paper lead-authored by NASA’s Drew Shindell – along with 23 scientists from the US, Europe, Africa and Asia - identifies 14 measures which slow global warming in the short-term, while also increasing agricultural yields and reducing illness and deaths from air pollution. They claim the application of the 14 interventions have the potential to reduce projected mean warming by -0.5°C by 2050; reduce premature deaths from air pollution by around 5 million annually; and, increase annual crop yields by 30 to 135 million metric tonnes annually by 2030 and beyond by reducing tropospheric ozone concentrations.

With stronger links to short-term benefits close to home, these offer invaluable wiggle-room for politicians caught between the rock of current economic woes and the hard place of mitigating longer-term climate impacts.

When I left the UN climate conference in Durban last December, I travelled to Johannesburg to see Avis South Africa. Avis Europe has been a client since 2002, and Avis Rent A Car South Africa now also conducts its car rental operations under our CarbonNeutral® certification. Their net zero carbon management initiative is one element of a wider sustainability strategy which targets and achieves reductions in water use, waste, and greenhouse gas emissions. Wayne Duvenage, Avis Rent A Car South Africa’s CEO, is fluent in articulating the value of sustainable business in South Africa, and sure-footed in delivering business value for Avis from its competitively crafted sustainability programme.

A competitive climate programme for Avis means cost-effective reduction of emissions to net zero using offset-inclusive carbon management; building customer preference and loyalty using its CarbonNeutral® status as a market differentiator; and selecting offset projects which combine climate change mitigation with benefits to local communities so Avis can deliver against its progressive social responsibility objectives.

Last year, Avis included reductions from the South African Basa Magogo cook-stoves project in its offset portfolio because of its clear relevance to off-grid, fuel impoverished communities in South Africa. The project was conceived and is managed by The Nova Institute, a non-profit established in 1994 to focus on self-financing, low-carbon energy solutions in households of the poor.

During my visit, Hendrik Snyman and Obed Nelovholwe from Nova demonstrated the Basa Magogo solid fuel lighting technique in Avis’s carpark (picture above). It was astonishing to see how a simple change in the method of lighting the coal cooking fire reduced smoke by more than 80% and the time taken to reach cooking temperature from 45 to 15 minutes. Resulting fuel efficiency gains generates monthly savings of around ZAR250 (£21; US$32) on an average household fuel spend of ZAR600 (£49; US$78) and emits 30% less CO2 emissions versus entrenched techniques.

The remarkable thing about the Basa Magogo approach is that is requires nothing more than a change in lighting technique to deliver the benefits – no new stoves, fuels, etc. The CO₂ savings are verified as Gold Standard carbon credits, and income from their sale as voluntary carbon offsets to businesses like Avis provides the finance for the community outreach that is essential to the project’s successful implementation and widespread adoption.

Improved cooking techniques is one of the 14 methods identified in the Science research paper that can reduce carbon emissions, reduce smoke, improve health, and cut household expenditures amongst off-grid communities in developing economies. And the offset-inclusive carbon management programmes of companies like Avis are helping these grassroots initiatives become self sustaining through carbon finance.

Back in London, I updated Prof John Murlis (The CarbonNeutral Company’s scientific advisor on climate change) about the project demonstration because John has always encouraged us to address the issue of local air pollution abatement in our carbon reduction projects. In his own words:

“Great to hear about the Basa Magogo project. I saw this project in Mpumalanga when I visited for the IUAPPA (International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations) regional meeting in 2008. The South African member of IUAPPA, the National Association for Clean Air, laid on a demonstration, complete with project anthem. I was very impressed and am delighted to hear that they are getting carbon finance. The project makes a real difference and is an excellent example of a win-win for climate and air quality. The coal they use up in the high veldt is pretty rotten stuff and highly polluting so this has a considerable impact on air quality and I am sure it will be seen in health improvement, too.”

As it happens, the next World Clean Air Congress is to be held in Cape Town in 2013 – giving South Africa another chance to provide leadership in climate change and air pollution. Could the South African’s success in getting the UN climate change negotiations moving in Durban prompt them to up their game and go for a “single law for the atmosphere”? The Basa Magogo project could be their inspiration.

If you like this blog and want to receive notification of new posts, then please register for our free email newsletter. You can also read other blog posts from The CarbonNeutral Company and download our free carbon management whitepapers.

Rebecca Fay during a recent
web chat with environmental
website Treehugger.

"Carbon neutral labelling could become like Fair Trade", said The CarbonNeutral Company’s Marketing Director Rebecca Fay, in a recent live chat with Treehugger.com. She made the point that most consumers, presented with two products equal in price and quality, would choose the Fair Trade product. To engage consumers on carbon emissions of products, addressing those first two elements are essential to the middle ground; those who most likely care about the environment but would not prioritise 'eco' over other factors. So an eco-label can become mainstream by its introduction to commonplace products – in Fair Trade’s case, we are now accustomed to supermarket bananas carrying the label – rather than by retailers producing specific 'eco' products.

Crucial, though, to the success of eco-labels is simplicity, and credibility, of message. Only this week, Tesco announced its decision to abandon its current carbon labelling scheme, blaming the amount of work involved and other supermarkets for failing to follow its lead. Tesco’s carbon labelling scheme gave a carbon footprint for a product, but did not offer a simple means for consumers to understand whether this was low or high compared to other products. Carbon neutral is a much simpler concept, giving a clear statement of positive action that has been taken to remove emissions.

M&S demonstrated last year that introducing an environmental label to an item where it’s already trusted for price and quality can really work. The retailer’s Carbon Neutral Bra launched in April 2011 and captured the interest of media, receiving coverage such as this from the Daily Mail. Adding the mark to a popular staple was viewed as ‘making going green even easier’. A simple choice for consumers, backed up by a compelling story of sustainable manufacturing and zero emissions. Rebecca’s final point in the Treehugger discussion was equally as important for any company considering using an eco-label: with so much information available to consumers today, a brand has to be trusted. A relevant and credible ecolabel can enhance a brand’s reputation, but it won’t create it. Rebecca’s discussion with Treehugger on the value and uses of carbon offsetting, communicating it to consumers, and innovation within carbon offset products can be found here. Her discussion on the role of carbon neutral labels starts at [40:41].

If you like this blog and want to receive notification of new posts, then please register for our free email newsletter. You can also read other blog posts from The CarbonNeutral Company and download our free carbon management whitepapers.

The adage ‘you can’t mitigate what you can’t measure’ is naturally applicable to carbon emissions. Environmental standards and management systems, such as The CarbonNeutral Protocol or the British Standard Institute's PAS 2060, provide the means for a company to start their journey towards sustainability.

At a recent conference on this very subject, one of our clients made the point that they believe sustainable businesses are more robust in a recession and I felt it hard to disagree with them. By implementing and truly integrating sustainable practices, you are naturally taking a longer view on your business activities. This is particularly true when they uncover unexpected inefficiencies and easy wins for improving environmental performance.

My role at The CarbonNeutral Company is to help develop and maintain some of the systems upon which we work. That means I see, first hand, how the simple act of measuring a carbon footprint helps a company better understand not just their footprint, but achieve a more detailed idea of everything they do as a company. This is so often a completely unexpected, but fantastically useful, outcome for our clients as they can easily identify ways of reducing that they wouldn’t have otherwise spotted.

So I was a little surprised when the need for simplicity was raised several times at the recent conference on environmental reporting standards. To my mind, the importance of robust, credible action on climate change outweighs the ease of reporting. In medicine, doctors don’t complain that the human body is too complicated and needs to be simplified before we’ll treat it. They train better surgeons, more competent nurses, create new specialists. That is where I believe environmental reporting is headed.

Robust doesn’t have to mean difficult

Also, “robust” doesn’t have to mean “difficult”. With the involvement of the right people, the right systems and the right processes, “robust” can, instead, mean “everyday”. And this is where people like me come in. Get us involved at the beginning of your journey, either by sourcing them from within your company, or looking outwards to companies that can provide the expertise you need.

Equally, don’t feel that you have to get everything right first time. This is a journey, remember. Consider a first attempt as just that. You’re going to learn lessons that help your business for years. Most importantly, it gives a clear direction on how to change and improve for next time: a lot of standards have built in clauses, allowing a company to state what they weren’t able to achieve and why.

As an industry, we’re seeing leaders emerge who can tackle the challenges raised by ever evolving environmental behaviour and reporting. These leaders have developed the knowledge and the tools to help companies measure their footprint and, if they think it’s important, strive for PAS 2060. They definitely didn’t start out with the knowledge and capability that they have now, but if it’s important enough to do, then it should be important enough to do right.

PAS 2060 and emissions management

As another part of my job, I’m a member of the team that helps deliver PAS2060 verification to our clients. If you’re not in the know about PAS 2060, it is a set of guidelines for effectively and robustly demonstrating carbon neutrality for something. It could be a product or a service (such as a chocolate bar, or the act of delivering chocolate bars), or it could be an “entity” such as a company or even an individual (for example, a chocolate bar manufacturer, or a blogger obsessed with chocolate). The main differences between PAS 2060 and The CarbonNeutral Protocol can be found on our website.

If somebody wants to verify something to PAS 2060, the first thing they need is a robust, transparent Greenhouse Gas footprint assessment that conforms to PAS 2060 for a particular period (most likely a year). Once this is in place, they can decide to achieve carbon neutrality for the period assessed or, alternatively, use that footprint as a baseline from which to reduce and commit to achieve carbon neutrality for the subsequent period. Equally, you could do both. You could have an achievement of carbon neutrality for one period and a commitment to achieve carbon neutrality for the next period.

A commitment to PAS 2060 carbon neutrality also needs to be complemented by a carbon footprint management plan, as well as a reductions target stating how much you intend to reduce your emissions by in the coming period. This can be either in terms of your total emissions or according to some benchmark relevant to your company (number of employees, revenue, etc). PAS 2060 requires ongoing reductions from period to period, so can be challenging. Also, any PAS 2060 verification needs to be backed up by a publicly available evidence pack that transparently states where the numbers have come from and how calculations were performed.

But, as I said earlier, help is out there in the form of environmental reporting experts such as myself. The sorts of quiet numbers types who take pleasure in uncovering ways for businesses to be more sustainable, and ultimately, more successful.

If you like this blog and want to receive notification of new posts, then please register for our free email newsletter. You can also read other blog posts from The CarbonNeutral Company and download our free carbon management whitepapers.