As you may have noticed here at Studio North we take our environmental responsibility extremely seriously.  We want to do our bit and we want to do it right.

As a consequence of which I embarked on a scheme to discover the most credible way in which to carbon offset the emissions that we could not eliminate by switching to a sustainable energy provider or by turning off those lights in the loos; little did I know what a murky road I was embarking upon….

The problem with carbon offsetting is essentially ambiguity.  The more you look into it the more you realise that the money that you pay may not be going to the projects that you are investing in but rather get ‘lost’ in a system that is fledgling at best.  After all, carbon offsetting is the most amount of money in the modern business world that people invest without demanding proof of purchase or credible returns.  Many carbon offsetting sites have been criticised heavily for the lack of financial information provided and as a rapidly growing industry this should not go unnoticed. 

A second problem is credibility.  DEFRA, the governments environmental arm so to speak seems to have got on the band wagon a little too late and is having trouble reigning everything in.  It was only in February that it created a Carbon Offsetting Best Code of Practice which is in itself merely voluntary guidelines and has come a couple of years later than the initial offsetting companies. 

The Gold Standard is the most credible way to purchase carbon offset credits, guaranteing that projects approved by them will be independently verified and are supported by 51 NGO’s.  Perfect you might think but in fact the cost of such schemes, being few and far between at the moment is extremely prohibitive for small and medium sized businesses and so such companies have to think again.   

And as for us?  The journey to our chosen scheme has been long and eye opening and the experience was certainly not wasted.  We still firmly believe that small actions lead to big difference and as such will continue to offset and do as much as possible to become carbon neutral.  This may appear a bit odd in light of the above but it is all very well to sit on your laurels and berate things without actually tring to make a difference.  What we have learnt is that these projects should not be embarked on lightly and that these schemes need to be monitored closely to ensure that business, and more importantly the environment are getting a good return from their investments.  But rest assured, we will be doing just that, using the knowledge we gain to make the bigger difference.

For more information on the scheme we have chosen please visit: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/offsetalternativeenergy.html

For the Gold Standard and DEFRA website please select the hyperlinks below:

http://www.cdmgoldstandard.org/index.php 

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/carbonoffset/codeofpractice.htm

The Environmental Business Pledge is a unique initiative aimed at Manchester businesses who wish to improve their environmental performance. The scheme both rewards and recognises those businesses that have made a solid commitment and tangible improvement to their environmental attitude and impact.

Assessed on three levels; acknowledgement (bronze), action (silver) & achievement (gold) the pledge is an easy way for businesses to become involved in the local environment whilst rewarding those that have been successful.

We are proud to have achieved the Bronze level award since being made aware of the scheme in April and are well on our way to earning silver by the end of the year.

For more information please visit Manchester City Council’s website by clicking on the link above.