A A A

What is Carbon Offset Watch?

Carbon Offset Watch is the first independent ranking of Australian offset providers. Completed in August 2008, information and products can change - please check for new information from providers and use our tips for buying offsets.

Total Environment Centre
the Institute for Sustainable Futures
choice
Types of Carbon Offsets PDF Print E-mail

Carbon offsetting is where consumers voluntarily pay to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere. This is usually to counteract or compensate for pollution they’ve caused.


In Australia, buying offsets is voluntary (you don’t have to). Here’s how this voluntary carbon market works: companies set up or finance projects that reduce greenhouse emissions. When emissions are reduced, carbon offset credits or certificates are created. Consumers can buy these credits or certificates from retailers, usually through a website. The cost of one tonne of carbon offset can be anything from $6 to $52.

Examples of offsets
So how can emissions be reduced or avoided? Some of the main types of offset projects, which are situated in Australia and overseas (often in developing countries), are:

   - Renewable energy: ‘Clean’ energy is generated from sources like water, wind and sun. This means dirty coal-based energy production is avoided, so there are fewer carbon emissions.

   - Trees/forestry projects: Trees suck up (‘sequester’) carbon from the atmosphere. So projects that avoid deforestation or plant new trees can result in a net reduction in atmospheric CO2.

   - Energy efficiency projects: Perhaps the most effective way to reduce emissions is to use less energy, and use it more efficiently. For the purposes of offsets, a company might set up projects that increase energy efficiency (for example, by installing free energy-efficient light bulbs in homes, while selling credit for the resulting emission reduction to you as a carbon offset).

   - Methane flaring: Landfill gas is burned to reduce emissions that enter the atmosphere. Capturing and burning this methane enables generation of energy, and prevents methane escaping into the atmosphere. Methane produces 21 times more global warming greenhouse pollution than an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide.

   - Waste diversion: Waste can be prevented from going to landfill, instead being used for other purposes and preventing the release of methane. For example, organic waste can be processed and used for compost, without releasing methane.