What are your views on carbon offsetting?

What are your views on Carbon Offsetting.  Is it possible for a ‘Carbon Neutral’ event to truly neutralise the effect of it’s carbon emissions?

Paragon’s view is that offsetting should only be undertaken as a last resort when all possible measures have been exhausted to negate or reduce the potential for C02 emissions.  Only when this has been done do we look to replacing, ie to fund or support a sustainable project that is working globally to reduce carbon emissions.

And that doesn’t mean planting trees. Although it’s a nice gesture to plant the odd tree as a gift or memorial, it would take 4 planets-worth of newly planted trees to make a worthwhile impact on C02 emissions, and you’d have to wait about 100 or so years. And if they die or burn, they release tons of carbon back into the atmosphere.

We also need to choose our offsetting companies carefully. Paragon use Climate Care.

We’ve come across one interesting view on the subject - a report published by the Carbon Trade Watch. “The Carbon Offset Myth”.

Have a read and tell us your views. Download .pdf