Emission reduction and carbon offsetting are two increasingly familiar terms that are linked to wider areas.
A growing number of companies, organizations and even entire countries are talking about becoming carbon neutral and there is a common denominator to this, offsetting.
What is carbon offsetting?
Carbon offsetting or carbon footprint is the neutralization of the CO2 emissions that any person, company or organization emits into the atmosphere with its activity. Either by legal mandate or voluntarily.
How to offset CO2 emissions?
The compensation of CO2 emissions consists of the contribution of an economic amount, proportional to the emissions generated, for a project that avoids or captures the same amount of CO2 emitted.
These generated emissions are measured in tons of Co2 (tCO2) and the exchange currency is called a carbon credit.
Equivalence: 1tCO2 = 1 carbon credit
In other words, if a company emits 300 tCO2 in a year, it must purchase 300 carbon credits from a project that absorbs or avoids CO2 emissions. For example, by implementing a reforestation carbon sink project.
Offsetting CO2 emissions or carbon footprint is the last step on the road to carbon neutrality.
In the first instance, what we need to do is calculate the carbon footprint. To do this there are various tools, depending on whether you want to calculate the personal, family or business carbon footprint. Secondly, we must reduce the emissions generated.
Last but not least, we have the offsetting of emissions. This step should be taken when we have reduced our carbon footprint but for production reasons we continue to generate and emit CO2 into the atmosphere.
We are your company’s sustainability department
At Climatetrade we have a wide portfolio of projects to offset emissions around the world. We help you calculate your company’s carbon footprint and advise you on your sustainability strategy.
