Carbon offset initiative puts clients on the road to net zero
Lancaster-based carbon streaming service iOffset launched today (July 7) to help businesses offset their carbon emissions against products, services or transactions, supporting the UK’s journey to net zero by 2050.
In a UK first, iOffset’s inaugural commercial partnership with national car retailers, Motor Depot and CarSupermarket.com, will see the dealerships offset the projected future emissions of every used car sold for the first year of ownership.
Carbon footprint expert, Prof Mike Berners-Lee and his team Small World Consulting, helped develop iOffset’s carbon use examples to enable people to make lifestyle choices that reduce their carbon footprint and for businesses to better understand the impact of their emissions.
The firm funds some of the world’s leading high impact carbon reduction projects accredited by Gold Standard (WWF) and the United Nations.
It is the only offsetting service to retire credits by default specifically in commercial customer and consumer names, automatically generating a link to their contribution on the public Gold Standard or UN registry, ensuring complete transparency on the offsetting programmes supported and benefits achieved.
This year carbon emissions have undergone the sharpest drop since records began, putting climate change and sustainable practices firmly on the business agenda as lockdown restrictions ease and organisations embark on the ‘new normal’.
Mark Hammond, founder of iOffset, said: “Our mission is to spearhead an international carbon reduction and offsetting culture, making it easy and affordable for individuals and businesses to reduce and offset their unavoidable emissions.
“I congratulate Motor Depot for being the first in the auto retail market in the UK to embark on this as part of their service, and hopefully this initiative will be a catalyst for many dealers and other businesses around the world to push forward more environmentally-friendly operations on the journey to net zero.
“The carbon offsetting industry has been plagued by years of poor regulation which has allowed unscrupulous parties to profiteer at the expense of channelling funds to project owners to support the production of clean energy, rather than actually offsetting – iOffset is committed to developing a platform of scale for businesses and consumers, built on the fundamentals of trust and transparency, and working with Gold Standard (WWF) and The UN Climate Change Secretariat to ensure our carbon credits are of the highest standard and are eligible to be retired on a public registry, directly in the name of a commercial customer or consumer.”
The company’s Offset as a Service (OaaS) model enables it to cost-effectively offset any product, service or transaction in full or in part, enabling investment into accredited projects that prevent the production of an amount of CO2 equal to a product’s carbon footprint, through afforestation schemes, renewable energy and emerging technologies in carbon capture and storage.
The service is built around three core pillars: Reduce individuals’ and businesses’ carbon footprint by adopting a series of simple and sustainable lifestyle choices; offset their unavoidable emissions; and share the message of carbon reduction and offsetting via social media and old-fashioned word-of-mouth.
