Once you have reduced your emissions as best you can, or for situations where there is no mechanism for reduction, then you can offset your emissions through a process which meets recognized standards of credibility. The Ministry for the Environment has published Guidance for voluntary climate change mitigation (offsetting) and it is strongly recommended that you read this if you are interested in making a voluntary offset of your emissions.

To quote the Ministry;

“Voluntary climate change mitigation refers to voluntary actions undertaken to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions outside of an organisation’s operations or borders, that otherwise would not have occurred. The guidance is intended to encourage and help organisations taking such action to make a credible claim”.

“For voluntary climate change mitigation to be considered credible, it must take account of the following principles:

  • Information on the mitigation must be transparent, clearly stated and publicly available
  • Mitigation must be real, measurable and verified
  • Mitigation must be additional to business as usual
  • Mitigation must not be double used1
  • Mitigation must not result in leakage of emissions elsewhere 
  • Mitigation must be permanent. “

The Carbon Shop provides a voluntary climate change mitigation (offsetting) service which meets these criteria. Many of the elements of the voluntary offsetting process run by The Carbon Shop rely on the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative (PFSI) operated by Te Uru Rakau / Forestry New Zealand, part of the Ministry for Primary Industries. All Carbon Units used by The Carbon Shop are generated by growing indigenous New Zealand forests.
The current Carbon Units offered by The Carbon Shop are from this location.

The Carbon Shop:- Voluntary Climate Change Mitigation (Offset) process;

Transparent;
The Carbon Shop has purchased Carbon Units from a land owner who has received the units as an allocation under the PFSI. The detailed documentation of the originating forestry project is available to clients prior to contract.
The units are held in the Emission Trading Register (ETR) and to complete the Offset transaction the requisite Carbon Units, representing the tonnes of CO2e which are being offset, are cancelled, thereby removing them from the market permanently. The Registry produces a Voluntary Cancellation Certificate which is provided to the client.

Real, measurable and verified;
The Carbon Shop relies on the PFSI process to determine that the allocation of units to the landowner by the Government represents real, measurable and verified sequestration of carbon into the forest.

Additional;
Similarly, The Carbon Shop relies on the PFSI process to determine that the landowner’s establishment of the forest was over and above ‘business as usual’, i.e. the establishment would not have occurred was it not for the allocation of units.

1Not double used;
All Carbon Units, representing one tonne of Carbon Dioxide, bear a unique identification number and this identification is documented in all transactions. The Voluntary Cancellation Certificate issued by the ETR identifies the units cancelled. The cancellation of units within a registry ensures those units cannot be sold or transacted again.

It is important to note that the principle of “not double used” refers to the stipulation that
– the same units may not be used by multiple organisations, and,
– an organisation cannot use the units to meet their mandatory compliance obligations under the New Zealand ETS and make a claim of voluntary action.

It is also important to realise that with the transition from the commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Accord, the New Zealand Government has made a policy decision not to allow adjustment to the NZ Nationally Determined Contribution (the “NDC” or “Paris Target”) for voluntary climate change mitigation action. As such, the Carbon Dioxide sequestered into the forest that provides the Carbon Units for Voluntary Climate Change Mitigation (Offsetting) is also counted by the Government in meeting the New Zealand NDC. This has the effect of making the phrase “Carbon Neutral” inappropriate and claims should be phrased more like “Financed xx tonnes of CO2e emission removals equivalent to the residual emissions from my business”.

Address leakage;
Leakage occurs when the reduction of carbon emissions from one activity causes an increase in emissions in another. PFSI forestry projects do not cause emissions elsewhere in the economy. 

Permanent;
The Carbon Shop relies on the PFSI process to ensure that the landowner has entered into an agreement with the Government to maintain the parcel of land as a permanent forest for 100 years minimum and with no harvesting permitted, as per the PFSI covenant.

To offset your emissions with The Carbon Shop, please
phone +64 (0)21 2889641 or
email theboss@thecarbonshop.co.nz
for a personal consultation.