Carbon offsetting is a way to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions that an individual, company, or establishment has produced or will produce in the future. This can be done by purchasing credits from another organization that reduces or removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting are designed to help voluntary non-state actors set up carbon offsetting strategies that effectively pursue Net Zero commitments in accordance with the Paris Agreement. This consists of 4 main principles.
Reduce, Ratify, and Reflect.
- Reduce the need for offsetting by minimizing in-house carbon generation.
- Use ratifiable offsetting organizations that are accredited by governing bodies.
- Maintain accurate reflections of current emissions, Net Zero targets, accounting practices, and offsets to improve process transparency.
Carbon Removal > Emission Reduction.
- Carbon Removal offsetting processes involve advanced scientific methods such as atmospheric scrubbing to capture carbon dioxide and reverse the greenhouse effect caused by a century of brazen human industrialization. Utilizing these processes is key to achieving the Net Zero target by 2050.
- Emission reduction offsetting processes are simpler to adopt and commonly used. These involve various methods to counteract the emissions that we currently produce, however, they are not enough by themselves to reverse the looming greenhouse impact on our planet in time.
Invest in Long-Lived Carbon Storage Offsetting.
- Short-lived carbon storage methods like afforestation are considered to have a high risk of reversal within years or decades. For example, socioeconomic challenges can cause a revocation of protected regions, or a forest fire can wipe out an entire carbon sink mitigating decades of efforts.
- Long-Lived Carbon Storage methods provide highly stable, low-risk platforms to store carbon for centuries and millennia. They involve processes such as ‘Mineralizing’ that not only store captured emissions safely, but also provide a dependable end-point to bank your carbon credits on.
Participate and support the development of Carbon offsetting by:
- Early adoption with long-term agreements and advanced planning to empower offset project developers pushing Net Zero offsets.
- Establish sector-specific forums, networks, and collaborations for effective and replicable knowledge transfer among peers.
- Be environmentally proactive by supporting the restoration and conservation of endemic natural biodiversity.
- Set an encouraging standard by incorporating the Oxford Principles into regulation and publicizing them.
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