Kick the Habit: A UN Guide to Climate Neutrality

INDIVIDUALS

Research the options among different offset providers. Read the provider’s in- formation carefully and look for quality controls. As competition grows among offset providers, many now offer third party verification, providing assurances that your purchase has the intended impact. You should focus primarily on quality, but you can also consider price. Prices per tonne of CO 2 reduction can range dramatically, from US$5 to US$40. Think about what you are getting for your money, the verification provided, the source of the offsets. Buy the offset! Most offset providers sell through the Internet, so you’ll be able to buy with a credit card and get confirmation of your new clean-living, clean-driving status within minutes. In many cases you will not be able to choose where your money goes to since it is very complicated for offset pro- viders to manage specific requests in large numbers. Starting from around 100 tonnes CO 2 you can find companies that offer to dedicate your contri- bution to a particular project. Depending on your lifestyle and how much you manage to reduce in the first place, this may account for several years to decades you could compensate with this. Apart from approaching an offset provider by yourself, some companies of- fer you to buy the offset together with their product. The question is whether it would not make more sense if they did automatically include the offsetting cost in their products. But that of course needs to be answered by the cus- tomers who are willing to pay a higher price for a climate neutral product . Half a kilo of salmon, two kilos of potatoes – and a tonne of greenhouse gas reduc- tions? Shoppers at one Norwegian mall can now buy cuts in their climate footprint as they pick up their weekly groceries. The Stroemmen Storsenter shopping centre outside Oslo has begun selling certificates at 165 Norwegian crowns (US$30.58) per tonne to people who feel bad about contributing to climate change. The mall’s managers said the certificates were bought by individuals and by small firms want- ing them for their employees. Each Norwegian accounts for about 11 tonnes of GHGs annually, mainly from burning fossil fuels. “Many people want to buy re- ductions, but until we started this in the shopping mall they haven’t known where to get them...“ said Ole Herredsvela, the centre’s technical manager. “We are do- ing this also to create awareness among people towards the problem (of climate change),” he said. Norway’s third-biggest shopping centre is not making money from the sales, but is selling them at cost plus a 10 per cent administration fee which goes to its partner, Norwegian carbon management services firm CO 2 focus.

THE CYCLE – OFFSET KICK THE HABIT

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