Environmental concerns are leading businesses to cut back on their CO2 output. But some go further by offsetting what they produce to become ‘carbon neutral.’ Morgan Lovell's Riccardo Rizzi examines carbon offsetting in the workplace
The science is far too complex to explain in such a short article but – in very general terms – carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas, and its levels in the atmosphere are increasing steadily. Some people claim that this increase is entirely natural, but atmospheric CO2 levels have very rarely been as high as they are today. Ultimately, that is having an effect on our planet.
Practically everything we do, as humans, results in some sort of CO2 emission, which the planet can cope with, to a certain degree. In the grand scheme of things, human action does not account for that much of the CO2 in the atmosphere, but the percentage is on the rise. It’s an ongoing debate, but scientists believe that the increased levels of CO2 will cause massive changes to our global climate.
Natural sources of CO2 are almost completely balanced by natural CO2 ‘sinks’, mainly the oceans and plants, which remove the gas from the atmosphere. Man-made sources of CO2 are not so balanced, which means that we should do something to stop generating as much of the gas, or find ways of reducing its levels.
1. The built environment
Energy produced from non-renewable sources and consumed in the built environment accounts for approximately 50 per cent of UK’s CO2 emissions, contributing to climate change, consuming resources and adding to pollution. This is according to the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
2. Why not cut back?
Of course, people and businesses can try to cut back on their CO2 emissions. This can be quite simple, for example by using less energy, creating less waste, and increasing the amount of recycling that we do, among other things. However, there are often instances where we can’t reduce emissions, no matter how hard we try, and so we can try to compensate for these instead. That is where the concept of offsetting comes in.
3. Carbon offsetting
In offsetting carbon emissions, you are paying someone to make emissions’ reductions on your behalf. These reductions are produced through investment in renewable energy, or energy efficiency projects, or reforestation.
In order to offset, the amount of CO2 created from activities has to be calculated, and then an equivalent amount of emissions’ reductions purchased.
These reductions result from projects that need the carbon finance in order to get started. For example, in some cases, wind farms in India are not commercially viable as an alternative to the traditional coal-burning power station. However, selling emissions’ reductions gives the project an additional source of revenue, and so the project becomes a commercial possibility.
4. Measuring emissions
Carbon emissions can be calculated in a variety of ways, but usually it means measuring office energy consumption, business travel, waste generation and employee commuting. These figures are then passed to a company such as The CarbonNeutral Company, which works with independent scientific advisors, to calculate the resulting CO2.
5. Buying credits
Once the number of credits needed to offset emissions has been calculated, offsetting companies can help find projects to invest in. They then sell the credits required. For example, in 2006, Morgan Lovell caused 575 tonnes of CO2 to be emitted. This was then offset through the purchase of carbon credits generated by a reforestation project in Wales and a methane capture project in the United States. For Morgan Lovell to be identified as a CarbonNeutral company, it has had to complete a four-stage process; measure its emissions, set targets, reduce internally and externally – through carbon offsets – and then engage the necessary audiences to achieve this.
6. The process
Offsetting the CO2 emissions of an office fit-out project is exactly the same procedure as for any other activity, such as offsetting flight emissions. At Morgan Lovell, data relating to how much energy has been consumed during the fit out is collected, and then the information is passed on to an offsetting company to work out the resulting ‘carbon footprint’.
One example of a recent fit out project caused 19.8 tonnes of CO2 to be indirectly generated. This came from the following sources: 0.9 tonnes came from vehicle deliveries, 6.5 tonnes came from electricity consumption, 3.8 tonnes came from commuting to site, 0.2 tonnes came from waste, and 9.3 tonnes came from embodied energy of materials.
It was offset through the purchase of 19.8 tonnes’ worth of emissions reductions from a wind farm in India.
Key Points
• Scientists believe that the increased levels of CO2 will cause massive changes to the climate.
• Energy from non-renewable sources and consumed in the built environment accounts for the UK’s CO2 emissions.
• When you reach the point where you can’t cut back any further, the next stage is to offset
• In offsetting carbon emissions, you are paying someone to make emissions’ reductions on your behalf
• Once the number of credits needed to offset emissions has been calculated , offsetting companies can help find projects to invest in
• An example of a recent fit out project caused 19.8 tonnes of CO2 to be indirectly generated. It was offset through the purchase of 19.8 tonnes’ worth of emissions reductions from a wind farm in India
Riccardo Rizzi is an environmental manager at office transformation specialist Morgan Lovell
This article first appeared in FM World, 2 November 2007
Find out more about sustainable office fit out at http://www.morganlovell.com
