What is a carbon offset?

An offset is a greenhouse gas emissions reduction or removal that is used to counterbalance or compensate for ('offset') emissions from other activities. Offsets can be purchased by countries, companies or individuals. The key criterion for an offset is that its greenhouse gas reduction would not have happened anyway i.e. is "additional" to business-as-usual activity.

When to offset?

Offsetting should always be considered as a third step in a strategy to reduce emissions. The first two steps are to reduce emissions yourself, either through reduced consumption or improved efficiency and then to green up your electricity supply by using renewable energy electricity. To find out some easy ways to reduce your emissions at home, visit www.together.com.

Once these cost effective emissions reduction opportunities have been exhausted, offsetting provides a way to balance out the remaining emissions.