Industry urged to prioritise cutting emissions over offsetting

The UK’s Enterprise Journey Affiliation has known as for “stricter” guidelines governing how carbon emissions are being offset for company journey.

The BTA mentioned the UK authorities should take motion to “stop incorrect carbon emission calculations and unreliable offsetting exercise” in its first environmental transparency report, entitled Carbon Offsetting: Past the Timber.

The affiliation discovered there’s at the moment no standardisation of carbon calculation from journey, with corporations “ill-equipped” to precisely measure their carbon outputs, resulting in the danger of “wrongly applied” offsetting practices.

Clive Wratten, CEO of the BTA, mentioned: “Too usually carbon offsetting is relied upon as a way of environmental guilt mitigation. Offsetting alone is now not adequate, and the narrative should change in direction of offsetting turning into a final resort to incite constructive environmental outcomes.”

The BTA report additionally seems to be on the “credibility points” confronted by some carbon offset suppliers however provides that offsetting can nonetheless assist corporates to realize net-zero emissions if “applied appropriately with and by way of a good supply”.

The research additionally explores a spread of sustainability choices and tasks equivalent to tree planting, rewilding, neighborhood initiatives, renewable vitality and carbon seize.

“A concentrate on collaboration, discount, reporting standardisation, readability and stronger regulation have to be prioritised as we transfer away from implementing offsetting as a primary resort,” added Wratten within the report’s conclusion.

“To make sure this, our understanding of carbon offsetting wants to alter. Carbon offsetting shouldn’t be applied as an alternative choice to discount, and the trade should prioritise concentrate on actions that scale back emissions over offsetting practices.” 

The BTA’s subsequent report will concentrate on sustainable aviation gas (SAF) and is because of be launched later this summer season.