Carbon Offsetting
A carbon offset (or carbon credit) is a way to balance your emissions by funding projects that reduce or remove an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide elsewhere.
PET encourages community members to offset emissions they have not yet been able to reduce. This includes visitors to educational programmes, guests at Findhorn Ecovillage Community, and businesses seeking to take climate responsibility.
We work with Carbon Footprint Ltd, a UK provider of verified offset projects. Their website has a carbon calculator for emissions from travel, energy, IT, and household use.
On their website they have an easy-to-use carbon calculator. Once measured, you can choose to offset through a variety of projects, from tree planting to renewable energy.
Offsetting and beyond
Offsetting allows individuals or businesses to balance their footprint by funding emissions reductions elsewhere.
It emerged from international agreements like the Kyoto Protocol, channeling finance toward developing countries while often providing local social, economic, and environmental benefits, such as job creation, improved health, and biodiversity protection.
Some projects focus on carbon drawdown, storing CO2 in forests or vegetation. Others aim to avoid emissions, for example by generating renewable energy instead of burning fossil fuels.
The Controversy
While offsets can deliver benefits, they are also deeply controversial. Critics point out several structural problems:
Offsetting can create a false sense of “climate neutrality”, allowing high-emission lifestyles to continue instead of focusing on real emission reductions at the source.
Many projects are located in historically colonised or economically vulnerable countries, where land ownership is often locked or controlled by foreign or corporate interests. Local communities, in some instances, may see little benefit, and sometimes projects restrict access to land that was once used for local livelihoods.
Verification and impact needs to be paramountly consistent and verified.
Local Low Carbon Projects: A Responsible Alternative
Carbon localised projects focus on reducing or sequestering emissions within your own operations or supply chain, rather than outsourcing them elsewhere. They support regelation and sustainability where you directly operate, ensures that local communities benefit, and strengthens the accountability and transparency of climate action.
By prioritising emission reduction first, then in-setting locally, and offsetting responsibly as a last step, we can act on climate change while addressing social justice, supporting local communities, and avoiding solutions that perpetuate inequality.
At PET, we are currently selecting local low carbon projects in Scotland. If you are aware of suitable projects, you are welcome to approach our director, Isabella Guerrini de Claire, to discuss it.
