Carbon Offsetting Policy

Our Carbon Policy

Framework

When considering which carbon offset projects to purchase carbon credits from, a rigorous selection process is implemented. The selection criteria is derived from the United Nations Convention on Climate Change Framework and best practice ethical carbon offsetting.

Verification Standard: Projects comply and validated under the VERRA Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) or the Voluntary GOLD Standard (GS VER) methodology and other credible voluntary carbon market standards comparable with the VCS and GS VER standards.

Co-benefits

Consideration is given to how carbon offset projects deliver co-benefits:

Environmental

Projects with high impact on local air and water quality, soil fertility and nature protection.

Social

Projects enhancing gender equality, education, job creation, health services and security.

Economic

Projects boosting economic growth and energy independence of their surroundings.

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Sustainable Development Goals

Carbon offset projects are to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to improve health and education, reduce inequality and drive economic growth all whilst addressing climate change and working to preserve the environment.

Carbon Offsetting Objectives

Needs to be financially additional – Projects need to demonstrate a level of quantifiable financial investment.

Needs to be environmentally additional – must be additional to the existing environment; that is, carbon offsets cannot be claimed on situations that would have occurred anyway.

Needs to be permanent – permanence is a very important requirement for a carbon offset.

Leakage cannot occur – a project cannot result in an increase of emissions elsewhere

Needs to be validated and verified – must use a methodology that conservatively quantifies its emissions reductions through a scientifically valid approach.

Acquisition Objectives

Only acquire carbon offsets from industry standard, compliant, secure and legitimate registries and carbon exchanges.

Only acquire carbon credits generated through trustworthy carbon offset projects.

Where possible only acquire carbon credits in the wholesale market to avoid resale margins and to maximise the quantity of carbon credits acquired.

Don’t speculate with carbon credits in secondary markets.

Meet ethical considerations.

Cancellation of Carbon Credits

We voluntarily cancel/retire carbon credits immediately following their acquisition. Carbon credits are then converted to carbon offsets to acknowledge the associated reduction in CO₂ emissions. Carbon offsets can never be traded again.

This removes speculation and trading activity and importantly benefits the environment, not the bottom line.