The UK government is to set standards for carbon offsetting schemes to bring "greater clarity" to the industry. The move comes as an increasing number of consumers try to limit the environmental impact of actions such as driving a car or flying by plane.   However, carbon offsetting schemes have been attacked for a lack of transparency and inconsistent prices.  Environment Secretary David Miliband said the voluntary standards would help consumers pick "genuine" projects.

 

 

 

There are a number of ways that consumers can offset their carbon emissions, including paying for trees to be planted and buying energy-efficient light bulbs for use in developing nations.  The worry for the government has been that the benefits of many of the projects have proved difficult to verify and may be open to abuse.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has named just four offset providers that meet its new guidelines - Pure, Global Cool, Equiclimate and Carbon Offsets.

A Defra spokeswoman said the move aimed to bring "greater clarity and certainty for business and consumers".   But she added: "It shouldn't be expected that everyone will meet it immediately, and we will be continuing to work with the offsetting industry and those who wish to offset."

The new standards will be based only on projects that can be certified, including flexible schemes agreed under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

 

Some carbon offsetting schemes have been criticised for failing to bring about real carbon emission reductions - because projects are hard to verify, reductions are only temporary or the reductions would have happened anyway.   Environment Secretary David Miliband said offsetting "isn't the answer to climate change".

"The first step should always be to see how we can avoid and reduce emissions," he said. But offsetting has a role because "some emissions can't or won't be avoided", he added. (www.bbc.co.uk)