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Q: What is carbon reduction and carbon offset?
A: Carbon (Dioxide) is the main gas produced in the burning of fossil fuels such as coal; gas and oil. This and other gasses known as greenhouse gasses (GHG) are factors in global warming and climate change. Carbon reduction is finding ways to reduce the amount of energy used and or the amount of gasses released. Carbon offset is a way to allow greater take up of surplus Carbon Dioxide by soaking up excesses through a series of project based activities.
Q: What are high quality carbon offset projects?
A: Many types of activities can generate carbon offsets. However, not all projects result in credible reductions in greenhouse gases and some cause other environmental and socio-economical problems. High quality offset projects can reduce emissions while providing sustainability benefits. Purchasing high-quality carbon offsets such as those from renewable energy & energy-efficiency projects helps make these projects economically competitive with fossil fuels, create jobs and know-how for the transition to a sustainable energy economy.
Q: What choice does BalanzTM give me?
A: You can decide yourself where you would like us to invest your money. It might be for example your local school in Cheshire, a hospital in Ghana or a community centre in India. Obviously the cost of offsetting your emissions will be higher in the UK than in developing countries. Thanks to our sliding scale you can offset 100% of your emissions or only a part if them.
Q: What makes a high quality offset project?
A: An Offsetters high quality offset project has five (5) key traits:
1. It is “additional”: Offsetters investments enable greenhouse gas reducing projects that would otherwise not take place.
2. It meets or exceeds the standards: Our projects meet or exceed Gold standard.
3. It is easily verified by a third party: Our customers can feel confident that their money is well spent with measurable benefits.
4. It provides lasting environmental benefit: We favour energy efficiency technologies and renewable energy over tree planting.
5. It is socially beneficial: Offsetters projects bring social benefits as well as environmental gains. This makes sure that there will be a social desire to sustain them in the long run.
Q: What is additionality?
A: We will only fund a project if we can be confident that it would not have gone ahead without our assistance. This means that all the emissions reductions that you pay for go over and above what would have happened without our intervention
Q: What is the role of standards?
A: Successful standards for the voluntary market must play two key roles:
1) Provide reassurance that real emissions reductions have been made. This reassurance will encourage more people to take responsibility for their carbon through buying offsets.
2) Provide access to carbon finance for innovative carbon reduction projects. This will help to channel a significant amount of the money available for carbon reductions into sustainable development work such as efficient cooking technologies.
To achieve (1) the standards must provide rigorous independent checks that additional carbon reductions have been made. To achieve (2) these rigorous checks must be workable in practice, taking into account the realities of promoting sustainable energy, particularly in the developing world: stationing a consultant with a clip-board at every home that receives a carbon financed efficient stove is unnecessary and unworkable.
Myth: Planting 17 trees per year will cancel out your car's environmental impact
Fact: The land required to capture car emissions is substantial, so like car use itself, absorbing CO2 in trees is only viable if not too many people are doing it On the other hand, growing trees in plantations and harvesting them does not prevent the stored carbon being released in the future. Planting trees also does nothing about pollution, noise or other environmental problems generated by cars.
Q: Do you use tree planting to offset?
A: Planting trees, as a form of carbon sequestration, cannot be seen as a solution to climate change when taken in isolation. Climate change needs to be addressed by reducing emissions through developing renewable fuel sources or boosting efficiency, rather than by focusing on sequestration. Although growing trees will absorb Carbon Dioxide, just planting more trees is not going to trap that Carbon Dioxide for all time. Natural events like bushfires can also release the stored carbon at any time.
Trees certainly do capture CO2 from the atmosphere, but tree planting as a long-term solution to greenhouse gasses management faces two challenges:
1) Reforestation initiates do not meet the permanence requirement: forests release their stored CO2 back into the atmosphere when they die, are harvested, or burn. This challenge is accentuated by climate change itself, which is changing the ecosystems to which tree species are adapted, leading to disease, infestation, and new fire patterns.
2) Tree planting is already well established and well funded. It is not clear that additional funds provided to tree planting) will lead to any additional greenhouse gasses reductions.
Q: Why Solar Thermal and not Trees?
A: We cannot guarantee what will happen to the tree in 5 years time, or if a tree might have grown naturally anyway. Once the trees die they decay, releasing the Carbon Dioxide back into the atmosphere. Solar water heating, on the other hand, is often the single most cost effective renewable energy technology available.
Q: What if I don't want to pay online?
A: No problem! You can always mail your cheque to:
Balanz CO2 Ltd
1 High Street
Clydach SA6 5LG
United Kingdom
Q: What type of an organisaton are you?
A: We are a limited company based in the UK.
Q: Why is BalanzTM a business and not a non-profit?
A: 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.
Q: Does carbon offset provide a solution to global warming?
A: 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.
Q: What kinds of carbon offset projects are used in BalanzTM?
A: We only invest in verified projects which guarantee reductions in CO2 emissions. Solar thermal is a simple yet time-proven technology, is robust and long established with proven paybacks. We can therefore guarantee CO2 reductions. We will only fund projects if we can be confident that they would not have gone ahead without our assistance. We only help non profit organisations such as Community Centres, Schools and Hospitals. The projects do not only save Carbon Dioxide emissions, they also create jobs and help communities. Please click here to see our projects.
Q: How do you find your partners?
A: We welcome all non-profit organisations with a potential technology offset project to talk to us. Their scheme is measured against criteria developed with the Gold standard. Applications are assessed verified every 3 months.
Q: Are all carbon offsets created equal?
A: No. Voluntary carbon offsets are an unregulated market at present. Many projects promoted as “offsets” today fail to meet the basic standards of additionality and permanence. Remember that if a project would have taken place even without your investment, then you cannot claim to be carbon neutral.
Q: Are some CO2 offsets better than others?
A: Arguably, a ton of CO2 reduced is a ton of CO2 reduced, period. We think there are other considerations, though. The first is whether that ton was going to be reduced anyway, or was the project that reduces the emissions made possible by the opportunity to receive money for its offsets? To generate “real” offsets, the project must be beyond business as usual
A second question is what do you want your purchase to accomplish? Many offsets, even though they are generated by projects that are additional to business as usual, are generated by projects that exist today. Purchasing these offsets rewards the project for having gone beyond business as usual, and helps build market demand for offset projects.
Q: Is Offsetting a permit to pollute?
A: Definitely not! We encourage every individual, family, and organization to adopt environmentally friendly practices: walking or cycling instead of driving; teleconferencing instead of flying; etc. But there are still many activities for which we do not yet have low greenhouse gasses alternatives. Offsetting is one way individuals and companies can actively contribute to sustainability by taking responsibility for their impacts.
Q: How do you calculate the CO2 emissions for my flight?
A: The calculations we use are based on
1) The fuel consumption rate of the aircraft being used.
2) The seats occupied and freight on-board;
3) The overall impact of greenhouse gasses emissions in the stratosphere (i.e. a multiplier for the altitude at which emissions are released); and
4) The distance flown.
Q: How do you calculate the CO2 emissions for my Road Journey?
A: The calculations we use are based on standard manufacturers calculations for the amount of CO2 per passenger km as verified by Governments for tax purposes. This data has been collected over many years and is very reliable. This data is reviewed and updated on a regular basis.
Q: How do you calculate the CO2 emissions for my Rail Journey?
A: The calculations we use are based on standard Governmental calculations for the amount of CO2 per passenger km. This data has been collected over many years and is very reliable. This data is reviewed and updated on a regular basis.
Q: How do you calculate the CO2 emissions for my Home/Business/Wedding?
A: The calculations we use are based on a variety of sources, all of them credible and usually Governmental and/or Academic. This data is reviewed and updated on a regular basis.
Q: Why do different offset companies have different prices?
A: When you buy an offset, the price will be determined by two factors:
1) The amount of CO2 that is calculated from your activity; and
2) The cost of the project supported per ton of greenhouse gasses avoided.
The CO2 emissions calculation will vary slightly according to the assumptions made in the methodology. The main difference is more likely to be the price of the offsets being sponsored. We are proud of the quality of offsets and efficiency of our operations.
Q: Will I receive confirmation for my online purchase?
A: By purchasing from Offsetters, you’ll get all of the following:
1) The good feeling of taking action towards mitigating a serious environmental problem, and the right to demand that others do the same;
2) A confirmation of purchase from PayPal to the email you provide; and
3) An E-certificate verifying the amount of CO2 your purchase has removed from the atmosphere and showing that you are part of a growing community of people and companies which is actively taking responsibility for its actions.
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