Document added 28 April 2011 by Director from the Consultancy / Business Services industry
This report examines the state of voluntary carbon offsetting by some of the UK’s largest companies, and examines whether, how and why they are offsetting their emissions.
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The State of Voluntary Carbon Offsetting in the FTSE 100The state of voluntary
carbon offsetting in
the FTSE 100.
18 April 2011.
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Executive summary.
This report examines the state of voluntary carbon offsetting in the FTSE 100.
Twenty one FTSE 100 companies offset; six of these claim to be carbon neutral.
Voluntary offsetting is confined to only three sectors: Financials, Consumer Discretionary
and Consumer Staples.
Ninety percent of companies offsetting are non-carbon intensive, that is, have low
carbon emissions per unit of revenue. This is perhaps because these companies can offset
a significant proportion of their emissions at relatively low cost. They are also less likely to
be covered by emissions regulation, so are more prone to ‘self-regulating’.
Outliers are Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser, both of medium carbon intensity. However,
both only offset a part of their operations.
Financials are leading the way with offsetting. Over 61% of FTSE 100 companies in this
sector offset at least a portion of their emissions. In all but one year from 2005-2010 one
FTSE 100 financial company has gone carbon neutral.
No offsetting is reported in the IT, Healthcare or Telecommunications sectors, all of which
have low-carbon intensity. Lack of voluntary action from these companies, plus sectors
with medium/high carbon intensity, means that only 0.1% of FTSE 100 carbon emissions are
being voluntarily offset. High intensity firms are covered by regulation; medium intensity
firms that are not could do more voluntarily.
If all non-carbon intensive companies went carbon neutral, offset volumes would increase
by 39m tonnes. This represents only 1.4% of FTSE 100 emissions, but it would almost double
the size of the global voluntary market.
Around half of companies report using third-party standards, and just under two thirds of
credits are reported as verified. This is low given that 90% of all voluntary offsets transacted
globally in 2009 were third-party verified, and indicates that the low figure may be due to
non-disclosure rather than companies not purchasing verified offsets.
Motivations for voluntary offsetting are: enhancing corporate reputation, plugging the
gap until new low carbon technologies become available, taking responsibility, and
engaging stakeholders.
With this in mind, it seems odd that FTSE 100 companies are disclosing reasonably low
levels of information about their offsetting, as information about offset standards and
methods are important to the credibility of offset claims.
If the FTSE 100 companies are to make meaningful steps towards reducing their collective
environmental impact, then:
• Non-carbon intensive sectors that do not currently use voluntary offsets (IT,
Telecoms, Healthcare) need to follow the lead of the sectors that do (Financials,
Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples).
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• Voluntary offsetting, as well as ambitious emission reduction strategies, must begin
to play a more substantial role amongst medium-high intensity companies.
• Offsets must be verified by a high quality third-party standard.
• Methods and standards must be clearly disclosed so claims can be assessed by
stakeholders.
The report is based on publically available data regarding 2009-10, accessed February-
April 2011.
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1
Contents.
Introduction........................................................................................................................5
Context................................................................................................................................................6
Who is offsetting?............................................................................................................7
21 FTSE 100 companies use voluntary carbon offsets................................................................7
Six companies claim full carbon neutrality...................................................................................8
Offsets are almost exclusively used by non-carbon intensive companies............................9
Financials lead the way.................................................................................................................11
Bigger emitters are not joining the party....................................................................................13
The FTSE 100 could wield power in the voluntary market........................................................14
Offsetting methods and standards.......................................................................15
Renewable energy projects provide the most popular offsets..............................................15
Around half of companies use third-party standards..............................................................16
Motivations for carbon offsetting..........................................................................19
Methodology.....................................................................................................................21
1. FTSE 100 companies listed.....................................................................................................21
2. Publically available data sourced......................................................................................21
3. Inferring missing data.............................................................................................................22
4. Additional assumptions..........................................................................................................22
Appendix............................................................................................................................23
Appendix A: Glossary......................................................................................................................23
Appendix B: Offset methods explained......................................................................................24
Who we are.......................................................................................................................26
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Introduction.
This research examines the state of voluntary carbon offsetting by the largest 100
companies in the Financial Times and Stock Exchange Index (FTSE 100), and examines
whether, how and why some of the UK’s largest companies are offsetting their carbon
emissions.
The research is concerned with
the ‘pure’ voluntary carbon
offsetting market only. It does
not cover offsets bought for
compliance with regulation, or
the generation and sale of
carbon offsets by FTSE 100
companies.1
This report focuses on FTSE 100
companies because:
• They have a
considerable influence
on climate change, in
terms of their emissions,
influence over
government policy and
ability to set global
standards for responsible business practice.
• There is a relatively high rate of climate-related information disclosure among
these companies. In 2010, 86 companies publically disclosed their carbon
emissions2 and 21 reported that they voluntarily purchased credits for carbon
offsetting.
• They come from a wide cross-section of sectors, which enables an analysis of
whether and how different sectors are taking up offsetting.
1 Some companies purchase carbon offsets for compliance or sales purposes and motivations for this are very
different; see glossary for more information on the “Compliance carbon market”.
2 63 had public, complete data for scopes 1, 2 and 3. Of these, 26 had full independent verification, 20 were
partially verified, and 17 were unverified. 23 had publically available but incomplete data. We define
‘complete data for scopes 1, 2 and 3’ to mean that a value is reported for each of the scopes. We define ‘full
verification’ to mean that 80-100% of each of the scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions has been verified. Data were
sourced from company websites and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) responses.
2
What is voluntary carbon offsetting?
A carbon offset is a reduction in or sequestration
of emissions of carbon dioxide or other
greenhouse gases, made in order to compensate
for or to offset an emission made elsewhere.
Carbon offsets are usually measured in tonnes of
carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), a measure
used to compare the impact of greenhouse gases
based on their global warming potential (GWP).
For example, the GWP of methane is 21 times
greater than that of CO2.
Carbon offsets are either derived from projects
such as tree-planting or renewable energy, or
involve removing the right for an entity elsewhere
to pollute, for example by removing pollution
allowances from the EU Emission Trading Scheme.
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Context
The global market for voluntary carbon offsetting is worth $186m and represents 45 million
tonnes of emissions. Europe represents approximately 41% of this market,3 and the UK is
thought to dominate the drive towards offsetting within Europe.
Compared to these figures, FTSE 100 emissions are vast:
• Scope 1 and 2 emissions from FTSE 100 companies (direct emissions and those from
purchased energy) are equivalent to at least 78% of the UK’s total emissions, and
5% of global emissions.4
• Add in scope 3 emissions - emissions associated with activities such as business
travel, waste and supply chain - and the FTSE 100 emissions dwarf UK emissions and
amount to at least 33% of global emissions.
3 Building Bridges: State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2010, Ecosystem Marketplace and Bloomberg New
Energy Finance, June 2010. This figure refers to the volume of credits that are intended for retirement i.e. not for
resale or compliance purposes.
4 UK emissions in 2010 were 582.4 million tCO2e (source: Department for Energy and Climate Change Statistical
Release http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Statistics/climate_change/1515-statrelease-ghg-emissions-
31032011.pdf). The percentage equivalence to UK emissions is for comparison only; note that FTSE 100
companies often operate globally, and hence a large proportion of their emissions are likely to be outside of the
UK. Global emissions in 2009 were 8.4 billion tCO2e (source: Global Carbon Project
http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget/09/files/GCP2010_CarbonBudget2009.pdf).
Emission levels compared.
Figure 2.1 Disclosed FTSE 100 emissions (all scopes) compared to total UK emissions
and global emissions in billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
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Who is offsetting?
21 FTSE 100 companies use voluntary carbon offsets.
Twenty one FTSE 100 companies voluntarily offset at least a portion of their emissions. All of
these companies come from only three sectors: Financials, Consumer Discretionary and
Consumer Staples (see figure 3.1).
The companies which purchase carbon offset credits to voluntarily offset at least a portion
of their emissions are listed in figure 3.2.
3
Number of companies offsetting per sector.
Figure 3.1 The number of companies in the FTSE 100 that use carbon offsets for at
least a portion of their emissions. Sectors as categorised by the Carbon Disclosure
Project.
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Financials Consumer Discretionary Consumer Staples
3i
Aviva
Barclays
British Land
Hammerson
HSBC
ICAP
Investec
Land Securities
Man Group
Old Mutual
Royal Bank of Scotland
RSA Insurance
Standard Chartered
BSkyB
Pearson
TUI Travel
WPP
Imperial Tobacco
Reckitt Benckiser
Unilever
Figure 3.2 Companies which purchase carbon offset credits. NB This table does not
include companies which sell or facilitate the sale of offsets to their staff and/or
customers, unless the company also makes a financial contribution. BP and International
Airlines Group are therefore not included.
Six companies claim full carbon neutrality.
Only 11 of the 21 companies publically disclose the volume of carbon offsets purchased.5
Six companies in the FTSE 100 are carbon neutral.
Figure 3.3 compares the percentage of scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions offset for the 14 (of 21)
companies that both offset and either disclose the quantity purchased or claim carbon
neutrality.
Of the companies that report their carbon footprint and the quantity of offsets purchased,
six have disclosed or suggested that they purchased credits totalling 100% of their annual
emissions or more. Aviva reports that is has a ‘5% margin of error’ in emissions data,6 so
offsetting an extra 5% ensures the robustness of carbon neutrality claims.
5 Where the remaining companies claimed to be carbon neutral (or in the case of Aviva, stated that they offset
105% of their emissions), we have inferred the volume of offsets purchased from their scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions
data. In two cases (Barclays and British Land) companies disclosed the volume of offsets purchased and stated
that they were carbon neutral, but the volume of offsets purchased was not equal to their total scope 1, 2 and 3
emissions from that company. In these cases we have inferred the volume purchased from the scope 1, 2 and 3
emissions and the carbon neutrality claim. Finally, where companies said that they offset but did not claim to be
carbon neutral nor disclose the volume purchased, we have not inferred volumes purchased and hence they
are not included in this section of the report. See the methodology for more information.
6 Aviva Carbon Disclosure Project response, 2010.
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Offsets are almost exclusively used by non-carbon intensive
companies.
Figure 3.4 shows the strong relationship between the carbon intensity of a company and
the percentage of emissions offset by that company.7
7 The following companies are not included in the chart as they have not disclosed the volume of offsets
purchased: Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, Hammerson, ICAP, Imperial Tobacco, Investec, Land Securities and
Pearson. It is, however, possible to determine their carbon intensity. Unilever has a medium carbon intensity (2.7
tonnes per $000 revenue) and purchases carbon offsets to make their subsidiary brand Ben and Jerry’s carbon
neutral. Reckitt Benckiser has a medium carbon intensity (2.0 tonnes per $000 revenue) and purchases offsets to
cover its manufacturing operations. Hammerson, ICAP, Imperial Tobacco, Investec, Land Securities and Pearson
have very low carbon intensity: less than 0.1 tonnes/$000 revenue.
% of emissions offset by each company
Figure 3.3 The percentage of total scope 1, 2 and 3 disclosed emissions offset by each
company. NB Hammerson, ICAP, Imperial Tobacco, Investec, Land Securities, Pearson,
Reckitt Benckiser and Unilever have all disclosed that they have purchased offsets but
are not included in this graph because they have not publically disclosed the volume
of offsets purchased.
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Almost all companies that use offsetting are of low carbon intensity. All companies that
are carbon neutral (i.e. 100% or above in figure 3.2) have low carbon intensity. There are
two potential reasons for this:
1) Companies of low carbon intensity can offset a significant proportion of their
emissions at relatively low cost; and
2) Companies with higher carbon intensity are more likely to be covered by
regulation, such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, which regulates and reduces
industrial emissions in Europe by making companies pay for the right to pollute;
hence, they do not feel the need to participate in the voluntary carbon market as
well.
Despite this clear pattern, not all non-carbon intensive companies in the FTSE 100 are
offsetting (see companies circled in red on figure 3.4).
There are 67 non-carbon intensive companies in the FTSE 100.8 48 of these companies are
not offsetting.
8 Non-carbon intensive here means companies with less than 0.5 tonnes of emissions per $000 of revenue.
Carbon intensity related to % of emissions offset.
Figure 3.4 Percentage of total scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions offset against carbon intensity
(tonnes of CO2e per thousand $ of revenue). NB Graph does not include either
companies that do not disclose their emissions or companies that do offset but do not
disclose the volume of offsets purchased.
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The total emissions of non-carbon intensive companies is 42m tonnes. Currently these
companies only offset just less than 3m tonnes. If all non-carbon intensive companies went
carbon neutral, offset volumes would increase by 39m tonnes.
This 39m still constitutes only 1.4% of FTSE 100 emissions, but if this amount were offset it
would almost double the size of the global voluntary offsetting market.
No FTSE 100 companies in the low carbon intensity sectors of IT, Telecommunication
Services and Healthcare currently report offset use.9 Reasons for this may be that:
• These sectors are simply slow on the uptake. In Healthcare some companies have
made future carbon neutral commitments, for example GlaxoSmithKline plans to
become carbon neutral by 2050.10
• These companies are slow on the uptake (for their sector). For example there are
an increasing number of carbon neutral IT and Telecommunications Services
companies outside the FTSE 100, such as Google,11 Atos Origin12 and XLN
Telecom.13
Financials lead the way.
61% of Financial companies in the FTSE 100 offset at least a portion of their emissions and
five (3i, Aviva, Barclays, British Land, and HSBC) claim to be carbon neutral.
Carbon offsetting and carbon
neutrality are points of
differentiation in many sectors.
Amongst financial companies, in
particular banks, it is a different
picture: carbon offsetting has
become a hygiene factor.
FTSE 100 financial sector firms have steadily been going carbon neutral at a rate of almost
one per year since HSBC started the trend in 2005 (figure 3.5).
The knock-on effect among financial service providers across the FTSE 100 and beyond is
evident: over 61% of all financial companies in the FTSE 100 now use carbon offsetting to
take responsibility for at least a portion of their unavoidable emissions.
9 There are relatively few companies in each of these sectors in the FTSE 100, only ten in the three sectors
combined, so the sample size is too small to infer a great deal about the approach to offsetting in these sectors.
10 GSK announced in March 2011 that they would be carbon neutral by 2050:
http://www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2011/2011-pressrelease-381836.htm
11 http://www.google.com/corporate/green/operations.html
12 http://www.atosorigin.com/en-us/Newsroom/en-us/Press_Releases/2011/2011_03_09_01.htm
13 http://www.carbonneutral.com/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/xln-telecom-achieves-carbonneutral-
status/
“Carbon offsetting is not a solution to climate
change by itself, but it is an important part of a
package of measures.”
Barclays, Climate Action Programme (2009)
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Of the financial companies that do not offset, over half (five of the nine) are in the
insurance industry. Insurance, however, is ahead of other industries in reporting and
verification: all insurance firms in the FTSE 100 report into CDP and over half have all of
their emissions reporting independently verified.
Aviva and RSA are both carbon neutral; it may be that this is the next industry to embark
on wholesale take up of carbon offsetting. Just as in 2004, when HSBC claimed that it
would be the first major bank to go
carbon neutral,14 insurance
companies are in a race to make
similar claims. In 2006 RSA claimed
to be the UK’s “first carbon neutral
insurer”15 and Aviva have been the
first to acheive global carbon
neutral status.16
Why the proliferation of carbon offsetting in the financial sector in particular?
• We have already seen that the financial sector has low carbon intensity, so
carbon neutrality can be achieved by a financial services firm at much lower cost
than in more intensive sectors.
• Bloomberg New Energy Finance reveals that improved corporate reputation is the
most significant benefit of offsetting.17 High-street banks and insurance
14 http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/newsroom/news/2004/hsbc-worlds-first-major-bank-to-go-carbon-neutral
15 http://www.rsagroup.com/rsa/pages/media/ukpressreleases?type=press&ref=530&view=true. RSA have not
offset international emissions and are therefore not included in figure 3.5 which deals with fully carbon neutral
firms in the financial sector.
16 http://www.aviva.com/reports/cr10/climate-change-environment/controlling-impacts/carbon-offsetting.html/
FTSE 100 financial companies go carbon neutral.
Figure 3.5 The year in which companies currently in the FTSE 100 first went carbon
neutral.
“Aviva was the first insurance company in the
world to be carbon-neutral across its worldwide
operations. We reached this milestone in 2006.”
Aviva, CSR Report (2010)
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companies have a strong public presence, and reputation is important for
securing and retaining customers in these sectors.
• Financial companies provide carbon trading services and financial support for
large offsetting projects; institutions which responsibly manage their own carbon
impact are more likely to win custom in these markets, and are best placed to
utilise these markets for their own purposes.
• Insurance companies are very well placed to assess the potential impacts
associated with climate change – and the long-term success of their businesses
depends in no small part on avoiding those impacts.
Bigger emitters are not joining the party.
The big question is whether companies with medium to high carbon intensities will follow
the same trend.
The fact that only low carbon intensity businesses are offsetting a substantial proportion of
their emissions has significant implications for global emission levels and therefore climate
change. These companies are leading the way in terms of responsibility in the FTSE 100.
The volume of voluntary offsetting as a percentage of FTSE 100 emissions is pitifully low.
Currently the total quantity of offsets reported or inferred18 in the FTSE 100 is 2.8million
tonnes, which is 0.1% of the total FTSE 100 carbon emissions for scopes 1, 2 and 3. If the
FTSE 100 are to make meaningful steps towards reducing their collective environmental
impact, then offsetting, as well as ambitious emission reduction strategies, must play a
more substantial role.
There are a number of medium intensity companies that are neither offsetting nor
covered by regulation. These companies come from the Consumer Discretionary sector
and include Carnival and Intercontinental Hotels.
Such companies are therefore not taking part in either the voluntary or the compliance
carbon markets. These firms would make a large impact by reducing emissions and
looking carefully at their direct emissions, supply chain and consumer use of products to
see what part offsetting could play.
Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser are taking the lead in this area, being medium intensity
companies that do use offsetting, although they could also expand their use of offsetting.
• Unilever has an overall carbon intensity of 2.7 tCO2e/$000 revenue. One of their
brands, Ben and Jerry’s has been carbon neutral since 2007.
• Reckitt Benckiser has an overall carbon intensity of 2.0 tCO2e/$000 revenue. Their
manufacture has been carbon neutral since 2006.
17 The business case for carbon offsetting – an independent analysis, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, June 2009
18 Where companies did not disclose the volume of offsets purchased but claimed carbon neutrality, we have
assumed that they have offset their total disclosed scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
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The FTSE 100 could wield power in the voluntary market.
The volume of voluntary carbon offsets purchased by the FTSE 100 amounts to 6% of the
global market.
Actions taken by FTSE 100 firms to increase the quality of methods and standards used
could therefore have a considerable impact, both because of their position as big, well-
known brands and because a small number of companies purchase a significant volume
of offsets relative to the market size.
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Offsetting methods
and standards.
Renewable energy projects provide the most popular offsets.
There are numerous methods of carbon offsetting. Traditionally carbon offsetting has
involved purchasing credits generated by projects in developing countries or North
America. These projects reduce or sequester emissions and can include anything from
planting trees and protecting forests to energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
More recently a new method of offsetting has been developed, called EUA retirement.
This method (used by the authors of this report, Carbon Retirement) involves purchasing
allowances (called EU Allowances or EUAs) needed by heavy industry in Europe, and
permanently removing them from the emission trading system so they cannot be used.19
Renewable energy projects generate the most popular credits; these are purchased by 12
of the 21 FTSE 100 companies.
Figure 4.1 shows that companies most commonly choose renewable energy credits; by
volume, renewables represent 72% of offsets purchased by FTSE 100 companies.
Of the 17 companies that disclosed the offset method:20
• Nine companies use a single offset method (3i, British Land, Imperial Tobacco,
Man Group, Reckitt Benckiser, Royal Bank of Scotland, RSA, Standard Chartered
and Unilever).
• Eight use a number of different methods (Aviva, Barclays, BSkyB, HSBC, Old Mutual,
Pearson, TUI Travel and WPP), perhaps to reduce the risk of challenges regarding
the nature of specific projects. For example, forestry and large hydro projects
have long been criticised and, more recently, HFC-23 destruction projects have
come under attack. Spreading offset purchases across different project types is
one way of reducing the risk that problems will arise with a particular project type.
19 For more information on different types of offsetting projects and on EUA retirement, including which
companies use each method, see Appendix B.
20 Four companies do not disclose the method or methods that they use (Hammerson, ICAP, Investec and Land
Securities).
4
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Around half of companies use third-party standards.
Of the 21 companies that offset a portion of their emissions:
• Twelve disclose that they used a third-party standard or standards and disclosed
the volume purchased (3i, Barclays, British Land, HSBC, Man Group, RSA, TUI Travel
and WPP). Figure 4.2 shows the volume of different credits purchased by these
companies across five different standards.
• Eight companies do not disclose the standard used (Hammerson, Imperial
Tobacco, Investec, Land Securities, Old Mutual, Pearson, Reckitt Benckiser and
Standard Chartered).
• One company retired Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) for voluntary offset
purposes (Royal Bank of Scotland). RECs do not have a voluntary offset standard
which applies to them.
• Four companies disclose the standard but not the volume of offsets bought per
standard (Aviva, BSkyB, ICAP and Unilever).
Offsetting methods used.
Figure 4.1 Number of FTSE 100 companies using different offsetting methods. NB
These categories are not mutually exclusive: some companies use more than one
method of offsetting.
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FTSE 100 companies have offset with a combination of five different standards.
There are at least 18 standards available for verifying or endorsing carbon offsets.21 Five of
these have been used by the 12 companies in the FTSE 100 that disclosed volume of the
standard or combination of standards used.
The voluntary carbon offset market is unregulated, so this proliferation of third-party
standards is often viewed as successful self-regulation. However the sheer number of
standards available has also led to confusion among many buyers.
Despite the proliferation of standards, major risks associated with project-based offsetting
remain, in particular that projects will
not be additional.22 Research from the
University of Stanford shows that
“between a third and two thirds” of
project-based offsets have not
achieved a net reduction in emissions.23
For this reason many companies take
extra steps themselves to try and ensure
their carbon offsets genuinely make a
difference (see box on HSBC), and try to
communicate clearly about their
purchases.
21 Building Bridges: State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2010, Ecosystem Marketplace and Bloomberg New
Energy Finance, June 2010.
22 ‘Additionality’ refers to the need for offset finance to create reductions that would not have happened
otherwise. Non-additional offset projects therefore create no net emission reductions and are worthless to buyers
wanting to use them to offset their carbon footprint.
23 Source: Victor and Wara, University of Stanford, June 2009
http://www.law.stanford.edu/news/details/1722/Stanford%20Study%20May%20Stir%20Debate%20On%20Limiting
%20Costs%20In%20Climate%20Bill/
Offsetting standards used (tCO2e).
1,575,759
140,000
90,000
7,242
6,000
VCS
Gold Standard
VER
QAS
VER+
Figure 4.2 Volume of carbon offsets purchased (in tonnes of CO2e) by FTSE 100
companies under each standard. NB Graph does not include companies that have
disclosed third-party standards used but not the volume purchased or volume per
standard.
“HSBC takes a number of steps to ensure
the credibility of the carbon credits it
purchases. In addition to the UN's Clean
Development Mechanism, HSBC
undertakes its own checks on all potential
offset projects. The bank undertakes due
diligence to make sure that projects do not
cause negative impacts on the local
community and the environment.”
HSBC corporate website
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Just under two thirds of offsets were reported as verified by a third-party standard.
This is surprisingly low, given the risks associated with poor quality offsets. In 35% of cases,
either the third-party standard used or the volume offset by standard was not disclosed.
Globally, 90% of all voluntary offsets transacted in 2009 were third-party verified,24
indicating that the low figure for standard use in the FTSE 100 is more likely due to non-
disclosure rather than FTSE 100 companies not purchasing third-party verified offsets.
The limited disclosure of standards makes it difficult for carbon offset claims to be
thoroughly assessed.
There are distinct differences between the standards and so disclosure gives a good
indication of the quality of an offset. WWF have compiled a comparison of the various
offset standards.25
The most popular type of offset standard used by FTSE 100 companies was the VCS,
accounting for 55% of all offsets purchased and disclosed; this is one of the cheapest
standards. Prices in 2010 were between £0.75 and £7.50 per tonne.26
The Gold Standard accounted for 5%. This is the only standard which measures and is
accountable for social benefits for the local community; this standard was used by
Barclays and TUI Travel.27
In response to the complex array
of standards and the criticisms
associated with many of them, the
UK Government launched the
Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS)
in 2009 as a “shortcut to
purchasing high quality offsets”.28
3i was the only FTSE 100 company
to purchase credits approved to this standard.29
As the UK Government QAS is relatively new, uptake is likely to increase as it becomes
more widely recognised.
Section 3 showed that the FTSE 100’s share of the voluntary offset market is significant (6%).
A move by FTSE 100 companies towards the more robust standards such as the
Government QAS would have a knock-on effect on the rest of the market and could
make the whole offsetting market more effective.
24 Building Bridges: State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2010, Ecosystem Marketplace and Bloomberg New
Energy Finance, June 2010.
25 A Comparison of Offset Standards, WWF, 2008.
26 Prices from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, December 2010. Price against other standards is compared in A
Comparison of Offset Standards, WWF, 2008.
27 Unilever and Aviva also purchased some Gold Standard offsets, but details on the amount purchased were
not disclosed.
28 DECC UK Government Quality Assurance Scheme for Carbon Offsetting
http://offsetting.decc.gov.uk/cms/assets/Uploads/NewFolder-3/090311-Scheme-Requirements-version-1-4-
FINAL.pdf
29 International Airlines Group subsidiary British Airways runs a customer offsetting scheme that is approved under
this standard, but they do not purchase offsets themselves through the scheme.
“The main purpose of the QAS is to provide a
straightforward route for those wishing to offset
their emissions to identify quality offsets. By
vouching for the quality of the offsets, the
Scheme helps clear up the principle
uncertainties involved in offsetting.”
The Department of Energy and Climate Change
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Motivations for
carbon offsetting.
Organisations and specialists generally agree that carbon offsets should only be used
after companies have reduced their emissions as far as possible.
In the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC’s) short guide to carbon
offsetting, they give a hierarchy of actions: Calculate, Avoid, Reduce and Offset. Thus,
carbon offsetting represents the move to taking full responsibility for your carbon emissions
by compensating for what you cannot avoid.
This sentiment is reflected in many of the FTSE 100 companies’ CSR reports.
Evaluating the way that the FTSE 100 companies talk about offsetting, the motivations for
corporate offsettin
• Enhancing corporate reputation. Many companies use offsetting to improve their
reputation and demonstrate leadership. WPP states, “We believe that showing
leadership on climate change will support our reputation with employees, clients
and investors.”
• Plugging the gap until new low carbon technologies become available. Offsetting
is often used as part of a long-term strategy that recognises reduction
technologies are likely to improve over time. To quote WWP: “Compensating for
unavoidable emissions through offsets is a good way to reduce our carbon
footprint until more low carbon solutions become more accessible.”
• Taking responsibility. It is very difficult for companies to completely reduce their
emissions, and hence there is always likely to be some residual emissions that a
company cannot reduce. Companies that want to take responsibility for these
“The decision to become carbon neutral tangibly incentivises the business to focus
on resource reduction. The target will be achieved through on-going measurement
and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, by maximising energy efficiency,
increasing the use of renewable energy and by using offsetting as a final step to
achieve carbon neutrality.”
British Land
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emissions can achieve this through offsetting. Marks and Spencer recognises this,
stating, “In becoming carbon neutral the company has committed to only use
carbon offsetting as a last resort.”
• Engaging employees, customers, investors and other stakeholders. Carbon
offsetting can engage stakeholders by being relevant to their community or
relevant to their activities. For example RSA encourages staff to offset and BP,
International Airlines Group and TUI Travel encourage customers to offset. Barclays
states: “For Barclays, one of the key benefits of offsetting is that it supports the
development of clean technology in emerging markets. It also enables us to
engage our employees and other stakeholders in emissions reductions projects in
the communities in which we operate.”
With these drivers in mind, it seems strange that companies are not publically
disclosing more detail about the volume of offsets that they are buying and the
methods and the third-party standard used.
Non-disclosure leaves companies open to the accusation that they are buying cheap
and ineffective credits, and do not disclose details so as to avoid criticism. Moves
towards increased voluntary or even mandatory disclosure would increase credibility
of offsetting claims and the industry as a whole.
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Methodology.
This report was prepared and based upon publically available data, sourced from desk
research conducted in February-April 2011. Carbon Retirement does not warrant the
accuracy of this information.
1. FTSE 100 companies listed
A list of FTSE 100 companies, correct as at 17 March 2011, was sourced from
http://www.ftse.com/
2. Publically available data sourced
Data on company carbon emissions and offsetting was sourced from:
• 2010 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) company reports. In the majority of cases
these reports concern emissions and offsetting data for 2009.
• Company websites, annual reports and corporate responsibility reports.
For consistency we have used data from 1 January – 31 December 2009 where available.
Where these data were not available, we have used data from the nearest available
period. A list of companies for which we reported on data for a period other than 1
January – 31 December 2009 is shown below.
Company Period
3i 1/4/2009 - 31/3/2010
British Land 1/4/2009 - 31/3/2010
BSkyB 1/4/2008 - 31/3/2009
Imperial Tobacco 1/10/2007 - 30/9/2008
Investec 1/4/2008 - 31/3/2009
Land Securities 1/4/2009 - 31/3/2010
Man Group 1/4/2009 - 31/3/2010
Reckitt Benckiser 1/1/2008 – 31/12/2008
Standard Chartered 31/8/2008 - 30/8/2009
TUI Travel 1/10/2008 - 30/9/2009
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3. Inferring missing data
• For companies which claim carbon neutrality for all operations, we have assumed
they offset 100% of their scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, unless otherwise stated, and
used that to infer the volume of offsets purchased. This assumption has been made
for the following companies:
3i - 100% offset
Aviva - 105% offset
Barclays – 100% offset
British Land – 100% offset
BSkyB – 100% offset
• Pearson state on their website that they have a ‘climate neutral commitment’, but
it seems that this commitment has not yet been met. It seems that some offsets
were purchased in 2007 and plans remain to become carbon neutral at some
point, but no more recent data have been disclosed.30 For this reason we have
not inferred any volume data for Pearson, nor have we counted them as carbon
neutral. We have however counted them in the number of companies using
carbon offsetting.
• Reckitt Benckiser state that their manufacturing operations are carbon neutral but
do not state the volume of offsets purchased. Emissions data for their
manufacturing operations were not available so it was not possible to infer the
volume of offsets purchased.
• Where companies disclosed the third-party standard used, volumes of each
standard have not been inferred unless it is clearly and publically stated.
4. Additional assumptions
The scope of this research was companies which voluntarily offset their own emissions. It
did not cover companies which offset in order to comply with regulation, or those which
generate or sell offsets to customers or employees - unless the company also makes a
contribution. For example, BP and International Airlines Group sell offsets to customers; in
this respect we considered them to be acting as offset providers.
The industry sectors used throughout this report are consistent with those used by the
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
We have assumed that the information reported by companies in their websites and CDP
reports is correct; companies have no legal obligation to report details of their voluntary
offsetting or obtain independent verification of such data.
30 http://www.pearson.com/responsibility/sustainable-business-practice/annual-environment-review/climate-
footprint/
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Appendix.
Appendix A: Glossary
Carbon footprint The annual quantity of CO2e emissions for which a company is
responsible, expressed in metric tonnes of CO2e.
Carbon intensity CO2e emissions per $000 of revenue.
Clean
Development
Mechanism
(CDM)
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a Kyoto Protocol
mechanism designed to assist developing countries in reducing their
greenhouse gas emissions. The CDM allows projects in developing
countries to generate emission credits which may be sold in both
voluntary and regulated markets (such as the EU ETS).
CO2e Different greenhouse gases have different global warming potentials.
‘Carbon dioxide equivalent’, or CO2e, is a metric which incorporates all
of the greenhouse gases. It is thus the quantity of CO2 which would
have the same global warming potential as a given quantity of other
greenhouse gases.
Compliance
carbon market
The compliance carbon market refers to companies, governments, or
other entities who buy carbon offsets in order to comply with legally
binding caps on the total amount of greenhouse gases they are
allowed to emit. This market exists in order to achieve compliance with
obligations of Annex 1 Parties under the Kyoto Protocol.
An example of this in the FTSE 100 is the regulation of companies by the
EU Emission Trading Scheme. These companies have very different
motivations and strategies for the use of carbon offsetting from the
voluntary market, and hence it is not meaningful to directly compare
compliance buyers with voluntary buyers.
Consumer
discretionary
This sector includes companies which deal with products and services
that are not necessities. These products and services are purchased at
the discretion of the consumer. Examples include holidays, hotels,
restaurants, department stores and media.
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Consumer
staples
This sector covers companies which deal with products that are used
for personal and household purposes. Examples include food, alcohol
and tobacco.
EU Allowance
(EUA)
EU Allowances (EUAs) are emissions permits traded within the EU
Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). One EUA represents the right for an
industrial company to release one tonne of CO2e.
EU Emission
Trading Scheme
(EU ETS)
The EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is a Europe-wide scheme in
which entities in heavily-polluting industries must acquire emission
allowances (called EU Allowances or EUAs) to cover their emissions. The
number of allowances is capped, thereby restricting emissions from the
industries covered by the regulation. Allowances can be traded
between companies, enabling emissions abatement to take place at
the lowest cost. The policy is therefore commonly known as cap-and-
trade.
Greenhouse
gas
Any gas which has a warming potential in the Earth’s atmosphere. The
primary greenhouse gases are: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4),
nitrous oxide (N2O), hydroflurocarbons (HFCs), perflourocarbons (PFCs)
and sulphur hexaflouride (SF6).
REC Renewable Energy Certificates
Scope 1, 2, 3 Greenhouse gas emissions are reported in three scopes which reflect
the varying levels of responsibility that a company has for emissions:
Scope 1: All direct emissions, for example emissions from company-
owned vehicles, plants or landfill sites.
Scope 2: Indirect emissions from consumption of purchased electricity,
heat or steam.
Scope 3: Other indirect emissions, such as those caused by production
of purchased materials, transport in vehicles not owned by the
company and waste disposal.
Appendix B: Offset methods explained
Offset type Explanation FSTE 100
companies using
this method
Energy
efficiency
This approach funds projects in developing
countries which aim to reduce energy use. A
common approach is the use of efficient cooking
stoves in poor communities.
Aviva, Barclays,
BSkyB, HSBC, Old
Mutual, TUI Travel
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EUA
retirement
This approach involves the removal of emissions
allowances (EUAs) from the EU Emissions Trading
Scheme. As each permit allows the emission of one
tonne of CO2e, cancellation (retirement) of one
EUA prevents the release of one tonne of CO2e.
3i
Forestry The aim of forestry projects is to sequester CO2 from
the atmosphere. Projects can involve either the
planting of trees or the management and
protection of existing forests. Sequestration of
emissions from forestry is temporary, as the carbon is
released back into the atmosphere when the tree
dies (through human intervention or naturally, for
example through disease).
Imperial Tobacco,
Man Group, Old
Mutual, Pearson,
Reckitt Benckiser,
Standard
Chartered
HFC-23
destruction
HFC-23 is a greenhouse gas with a Global Warming
Potential (GWP) 11,700 times higher than that of
carbon dioxide. It is produced during industrial
processes, and credits can be derived from its
destruction. A number of issues with HFC-23
destruction projects have resulted in their being
banned from use by companies for compliance
reasons in the EU Emission Trading Scheme from
2013. For more information on this issue see
http://www.carbonretirement.com/content/doubt-
over-integrity-half-offset-credits-ever-produced.
None reported
Renewable
energy
Renewable energy projects fund low carbon
electricity generation in developing countries.
Generation methods include wind, solar electric,
hydropower and geothermal.
Aviva, Barclays,
British Land, BSkyB,
HSBC, Old Mutual,
Pearson, Royal
Bank of Scotland,
TUI Travel, Unilever,
WPP
Methane
capture/
avoidance
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a Global
Warming Potential (GWP) twenty one times higher
than carbon dioxide. Methane-based carbon
offset projects can include capture or avoidance
of methane from landfill and agricultural sources.
Barclays,
Old Mutual
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Who we are.
Carbon Retirement is a carbon offsetting company that leverages the EU ETS to reduce
emissions.
We work on behalf of organisations and individuals that want to offset their unavoidable
emissions.
The approach involves buying EU Allowances from the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU
ETS) and permanently removing them from the scheme so they cannot be used. This
reduces emissions from heavy industry in Europe and incentivises investment in low carbon
technology.
Carbon Retirement provides an innovative and robust alternative to traditional project-
based offsetting. Our clients range from FTSE 100 private equity firm 3i, to the Church of
England and the UK Committee on Climate Change.
Our aim is to increase the transparency and effectiveness of the two markets we bring
together: voluntary carbon offsetting and the EU ETS.
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For more information, contact Jane Burston, Carbon Retirement:
e: jane.burston@carbonretirement.com t: +44 (0) 20 7183 0188 m: +44 (0) 7967 734 903
For media or any other enquires, contact Emily Haynes, Carbon Retirement:
e: emily.haynes@carbonretirement.com t: +44 (0) 20 7183 0188 m: +44 (0) 7886 273 222