Carbon Offsetting: "Like Getting Permission from the RSPCA to Beat Your Dog!" (Rant)

For those who dont know me yet and are visiting this blog for the first time, I must warn I am prone to a bit of a rant - often on quite random subjects (though this one is quite close to my heart!)

I was reading a letter in the exciting and enthralling publication "Energy in Buildings and Industry" (reasons for reading this will hopefully become clear below) in which somebody had written the they thought that Carbon Offsetting is like "getting permission from the RSPCA* to beat your dog", a sentiment that I fully agree with.

Carbon Offsetting occurs when environment concious organisations and individuals feel guilty about the carbon dioxide emitted from their activities and rather than reducing the emissions themselves, choose the easy way out and buy carbon credits from a number of different organisations such as Future Forests. These organisations then either plant trees or run projects in developing countries to save the amount of Carbon emissions equivalent to that which you wish to offset. There are a number of issues that I have with this.

Firstly can improving energy efficiency in another country count as offsetting? I was watching a programme the other day depicting one of these offsetting organisations installing energy saving light bulbs paid for by eager offsetters in oublic buildings in a developing nation (I think Cuba). The first thing that sprang to mind was - its all very well a western organisation or individual buying credits and counting this as a saving of carbon dioxide for their organisation, but what happens when the developing nation decides it wants to meet its Kyoto climate change targets through energy efficiency? You can be damn certain that the saving will be counted twice. The planet doesnt care where the emissions comes from...

Secondly and more simply - nothing can detract from the fact we are taking fixed carbon from the ground and chucking it into the air at a rate faster than the earth can take.

I have slightly less of a problem with the concept of planting trees in order to absorb carbon. In my unheard opinion the UK government should definately be looking toward restoring more traditional English oak woodlands to absorb carbon dioxide and reinvigorate some of the most beautiful English landscapes which I enjoyed as a child (by incentivising farmers with masses of unused land). But this shouldnt count towards any emission reduction targets.

I dont know whether anybody reading this knows, but I am currently an Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Consultant with a comany based in the UK and I spend my time helping Industrial and Commercial clients reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Anyhow this job has led to me working on developing carbon footprint for some very large organisations, and has also led me to be party to some incredibly imorral actions (or lack of action) from some FTSE listed companies (commercial and industrial) that I would call "carbon crimes". Unfortunately I cant say who or what they are, but I reckon I could get vast amounts of money from newspapers for some of my stories (of course I would get the arse sued off me directly afterwards due to confidentiality agreements!).

Anyhow, it looks like this blog is going to be the story not only of my travels across the world (emitting a lot of carbon!) but my struggle trying to get a new job reducing energy and carbon emissions somewhere along the way (hopefully more that I emit) ....

Rant over.

p.s. thanks to all those kind people who have commented on my blogs (mostly on the request of my inferior older brother). When I get the hang of navigating around this thing, I hope to give a few comments of my own.

*The RSPCA being the UK animal welfare organisation