Tag: carbon offsetting

The Talking Business fellas, Leon and Garry, recently sat down with Greenfleet CEO Sara Gipton to discuss the not-for-profit charity’s efforts to offset carbon emissions by planting 7 million trees. And counting.

Expanding the reach of sustainable energy is no easy task. Reducing poverty in developing nations while cutting back the world's carbon footprint is a job of herculean proportions. Meet Hugh Whalan, who has co-founded a nonprofit that is making those things happen.

Okay, this is, for some people, going to be an uncomfortable column to read as I am going to seriously challenge what for many seems like an obvious 'conventional wisdom'. In many cases it is better for the planet if you offset your carbon emissions than if you reduce them via your own in-house efficiencies. The woman with the fully carbon offset Hummer is probably a better friend to the planet than the man in his non-offset Prius.

When the Department of Climate Change decided to change the name of the national Emissions Trading Scheme to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, they really hit on a winner. Yes, it’s a bit harder to say – the CPRS doesn’t roll off the tongue like the NETS. In fact, it sounds a bit like a medical procedure, but it’s a brilliant name change because now the scheme is being referred to in terms of its goals, rather than its mechanism. The new name puts all the focus on what the scheme wants to achieve. The emissions trading scheme is simply the way in which it’s going to be done.

A few months back I wrote about FreeRice.com, an online word definition game run by the UN's World Food Programme, which donates 20 grains...