home : key facts
Any questions? The answers may be here
- So what exactly is carbon offsetting?
- Will it solve climate change?
- Why offset with the Carbon Credit Agency?
- How do you choose which projects to fund?
- Can I pick a project to give money to?
- What do I get when I purchase offsets from the Carbon Credit Agency?
- What if I don't receive my Green Licence, Certificate or Luggage Labels?
- What happens if it's incorrect when I receive it?
- What happens if I move address, or change my car/energy supplier/flights?
- Shouldn't the emissions from my car be specific to my driving habits?
- Is the Carbon Credit Agency registered for VAT?
- What happens if my flight is cancelled?
- Are you involved in the Kyoto Protocol or EU Emissions Trading Scheme?
- Why do you not back projects in the UK?
- How can I be sure you are making the CO2 reductions you claim?
- Where in the world can I purchase my offsets?
- Can I deduct my Carbon Credit Agency purchase from my taxes?
- Isn't the purchase of Emission Reductions just a way for the developed world to buy itself out of trouble?
- Why should projects in the developing world cancel out emissions produced in developed countries?
- How did you come up with your pricing levels?
- Why do different offset companies have different prices?
- What is the relationship between the Carbon Credit Agency and its Offsetters?
- What percentage of the cost goes to the project?
- Why aren't you a charity?
- Who are the management of the Carbon Credit Agency?
- Does the Carbon Credit Agency offset its own emissions?
- So what exactly is carbon offsetting?
- Will it solve climate change?
- Why offset with the Carbon Credit Agency?
- How do you choose which projects to fund?
- Can I pick a project to give money to?
- What do I get when I purchase offsets from the Carbon Credit Agency?
- What if I don't receive my Green Licence, Certificate or Luggage Labels?
- What happens if it's incorrect when I receive it or I wish to cancel my purchase?
- What happens if I move address, or change my car/energy supplier/flights?
- Shouldn't the emissions from my car be specific to my driving habits?
- Is the Carbon Credit Agency registered for VAT?
- What happens if my flight changes or is cancelled?
- Are you involved in the Kyoto Protocol or EU Emissions Trading Scheme?
- Why do you not back projects in the UK?
- How can I be sure you are making the CO2 reductions you claim?
- From which countries in the world can I purchase my offsets?
- Can I deduct my Carbon Credit Agency purchase from my taxes?
- Isn't the purchase of Emission Reductions just a way for the developed world to buy itself out of trouble?
- Why should projects in the developing world cancel out emissions produced in developed countries?
- How did you come up with your pricing levels?
- Why do different offset companies have different prices?
- What is the relationship between the Carbon Credit Agency and the Carbon Offsetters?
- What percentage of the cost goes to the project?
- Why aren't you a charity?
- Who are the management of the Carbon Credit Agency?
- Does the Carbon Credit Agency offset its own emissions?
Simple. It's a way of compensating for the C02 emissions we all produce in our everyday actions - driving a car, heating our home or taking a flight - by making an equivalent CO2 saving. Here's how it works:
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First calculate your emissions, using our easy-to-use Green Calculators | |
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Then purchase a credit for the equivalent amount of C02, in an emission reduction | |
| project that prevents the production of, or removes, an equivalent amount of CO2 elsewhere. We call this an offset |
Where in the world gases are emitted makes little difference: the effect on climate change is the same, since greenhouse gases have a long life-span and mix evenly in the atmosphere. What matters is that by making up for the C02 emissions you can't avoid with an equivalent reduction somewhere else, your overall effect is zero.
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Not on its own But it's helping, for two vital reasons:
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Providing an easy way to work out your C02 emissions is great for raising | |
| awareness of the impact all our actions have on climate change. Combine that with doing everything you can to reduce emissions in the first place, and carbon offsetting has a real impact | ||
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Offsetting projects, like those approved by the United Nations or Independently | |
| Verified often provide a means of investing in clean technology or energy efficiency in areas where it's needed most. That encourages the spread of low-carbon development across entire regions, reducing the effects of climate change even further |
It's tempting to think that as long as you're "doing your bit", it doesn't matter how you offset your CO2 emissions. But there's been a lot of bad press about unmonitored, short term and questionable schemes that haven't lived up to their
claims of eco-friendliness.
By offsetting your CO2 emissions with the Carbon Credit Agency, you're assured that your money is being specifically invested to reduce the equivalent level of CO2 through a select portfolio of projects around the world.
We only create or purchase offsets which meet the highest standards. In particular, we focus on projects which can meet the internationally recognised Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) or the Gold Standard and or are designed to meet the equally demanding rigour of the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism. Our Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) portfolio will have met those standards or the even more demanding Gold Standard for CERs.
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We are not tied to any particular Offset type or project initiator so we can create a diversified portfolio of offsets to meet our needs and we only work with the leading international financial institutions and accredited Carbon Offsetters including members of International Energy Trading Association (IETA). This ensures that we can always spend the maximum amount of money on the most effective offsets available. We exclude any project where we feel there may be questions over the effectiveness of the chosen methodology or where we think it's the responsibility of individual businesses to address their operations. We keep you fully informed of our investments through email and on our website.
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No, you can't pick the individual project, but we do provide you with a choice of portfolios such as Energy Efficiency or Clean and Alternative Energy. We will keep you informed by email and through our website of the projects where we have invested your money in.
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High quality personalised Green Licences and Certificates and other merchandising evidencing you're doing your bit. You have our assurance that we will keep you fully informed by email or via our website.
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Please contact deliveries@carboncreditagency.com or call (+44) (0)20 7351 5949
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The details you input feed directly into your personalised Green Licence or Certificate so please ensure you enter them correctly. If you have made a mistake we will happily re-issue you with a new one, however, this will incur a small handling charge to cover costs. If you wish to cancel your purchase within the first forty-eight hours please contact us. We will have already committed your money to purchase Offsets. After forty-eight hours we are unable to provide any refund from the Offsetter. A cancellation is likely to incur a handling charge to cover costs.
Please contact changes@carboncreditagency.com or call (+44) (0)20 7351 5949 with all your details including the reference number(s) from your Letter, Licence, Certificate or Luggage Labels.Top
Your Green Licence, Certificate or Luggage Label is a reflection of the purpose that you specified. Once the transaction is completed, we commit the monies to addressing climate change so we can't provide a refund. Typically we recommend that you get a new full Licence, Certificate, Luggage Labels, however we may be able to cancel your old one and issue another at the same or increased price plus a handling charge.
Please contact changes@carboncreditagency.com with all your details including the reference number(s) from your Letter, Licence, Certificate or Luggage Labels.
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Yes. If you always drive in a stop-go urban environment such as London, your fuel efficiency per mile will be lower and the CO2 emissions higher than if you drive the same distance in a less urban or rural environment. We use Government Data based on a combined fuel consumption test or our own estimates of C02 emissions for older vehicles. The emissions numbers are adjusted by a Department for Transport 15 pct uplift factor to take into account 'real-world' effects not accounted for in test-cycle based emission factors including: use of accessories (air con, lights, heaters etc), vehicle payload (passengers and additional luggage), poor maintenance (tyre under inflation, maladjusted tracking, etc), gradients (the tests effectively assume a level road), weather, more aggressive/harsher driving style, etc., so we do our best to get an accurate number.
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Our Offsetters from whom you directly purchase your Offsets via the Carbon Credit Agency are not registered for VAT.
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We may be able to cancel your old flight offset and issue another one for the same or an increased price plus a handling charge. If you wish to cancel your purchase within the first forty-eight hours please contact us. We will have already committed your money to purchase Offsets. After forty-eight hours we are unable to provide any refund from the Offsetter. A cancellation is likely to incur a handling charge to cover costs.
Please contact changes@carboncreditagency.com with all your details including the reference number(s) from your Letter, Licence, Certificate or Luggage Labels.Top
Our Certified Emissions Reductions are part of the Kyoto Protocol, whereby countries in the developing world have agreed to legally binding cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990 levels. The UK has committed to a 12.5% reduction over the first commitment period 2008-2012. The UK government also has a voluntary target to reduce emissions by 20% by 2010 and 60% by 2050. Certified Emissions Reductions allow nations to achieve these targets by investing in UN Clean Development Mechanism projects in developing countries. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme is a mechanism set up to help the member states of the EU achieve their greenhouse gas emissions targets.
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We believe we should back our business with the highest quality Verified Emissions Reductions (VERs) and UN approved Certified Emissions Reductions at the best possible prices. We would like to offer UK Offsets which meet our high standards, but none are currently available.
The UK government has a legally binding Kyoto target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If we made CO2 reductions in the UK, these would be double-counted on behalf of both you and the UK government. In other words, we'd only be helping to make reductions that have already been promised.
UK offsets tend to originate in the voluntary sector and typically involve tree planting. We are not comfortable offering UK LULUCF (Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry) projects, including tree planting, as an appropriate long-term source of carbon offsets meeting our demanding quality standards.Top
We keep you fully informed of our investments through email and on our website. We are not tied to any particular Offset type or project initiator so we can create a diversified portfolio of offsets to meet our needs and we only work with the leading international financial institutions and accredited Carbon Offsetters including members of International Energy Trading Association (IETA). This ensures that we can always spend the maximum amount of money on the most effective offsets available. We exclude any project where we feel there may be questions over the effectiveness of the chosen methodology or where we think it's the responsibility of individual businesses to address their operations.
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We can supply a Green Licence, Certificate or Luggage Labels to customers anywhere in the world. But outside Europe you should check with your local authorities whether you can purchase our Offsets without paying any local taxes.
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Please check with your local Tax Office. For many businesses in Europe, this is an allowable expense.
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Kyoto was designed to reduce world wide green house gas emissions. Developed nations investing in projects which offset emissions in the developing world, enables those countries to build their economies in an environmentally friendly and efficient way. It can be seen as a transfer of wealth, but one which has the real added benefit of avoiding unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. It is not a substitute for the developed world to continue to reduce its emissions, reuse and recycle.
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Climate change is a global problem. Reducing CO2 in a developing country has the same result as reducing it in a developed country, and can be achieved at
a lower cost.
It is the size of reductions that count, not where they come from. Furthermore, CO2 reductions are designed to encourage sustainable investment by developed countries in the developing world, and we expect our investments to deliver both financial and non-financial benefits wherever the projects take place.
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We have to pay the market prices for the most sought after offsets and we wish to create attractive portfolios of Emissions Reductions for you which are diversified by project and geography.
We believe that our business model is extremely efficient and as a result we expect to spend significantly more money in every pound we receive on offsetting thanour competitors.
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We only purchase what we consider to be the highest quality offsets so you can be completely comfortable about their origin and quality. Offsets produced in the voluntary sector which don't meet the same standards are cheaper - but we believe that quality is more important.
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The Carbon Credit Agency Limited is the UK Agent for our Approved Carbon Offsetters. Agents in each country collect monies on behalf of, and issue Licences, Certificates, and Luggage Labels under an Agency Agreement with our Offsetters. Our primary Offsetter is C202 Limited which works with the leading international financial institutions and Carbon Offsetters including members of International Energy Trading Association (IETA) to create portfolios of Offsets. Any purchase contract is with
this counterpart.
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After paying credit card and banking charges all monies are paid to the Offsetters. The costs of the Agent for merchandising, postage and packing and its costs are covered by the Offsetters. The remainder is invested in offsets. We expect that we will spend more money on Offsetting and Agency Costs in the first few years than we will receive from Customers. Our goal is to invest 80 pct of our monies in offsetting.
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In the first four years we expect to lose money as consumers adopt to and recognise the benefits of carbon offsetting. This would not be possible as a charity
As a large scale company we feel we can run more efficiently and benefit everybody more as a business. Furthermore, we want to address climate change by partnering with commercial enterprises, businesses, public bodies, agencies and governments - and this requires a flexible and commercial approach. We believe there are enough government and NGO supported agencies and charities creating awareness and education on reducing emissions, but that climate change cannot be addressed by them alone.
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We are managed by a group of experienced professionals with expertise in the financial, industrial, innovation and technical sectors.
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Of course. We offset the emissions in the same way you do when you purchase our offset solutions.
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