Click here to see our available carbon offset projects

Carbon Advice Group’s primary objective is to have as great an impact as possible in tackling global climate change. Humanity’s demands exceed our planet’s capacity to sustain us. If you are an individual or a business, start by reducing your consumption and your carbon footprint today. Small steps can make a BIG difference, and Carbon Advice Group is committed to assisting you in every step of the way in achieving your low carbon goals.

We promise that the Carbon Offsets that you purchase through us will:

• Be independently verified by a Designated Operational Entity
• Meet internationally recognised Carbon Offset standards
• Be registered, delivered and cancelled on your behalf with an Independent Carbon Credits Registry.

When you buy Carbon Offsets from Carbon Advice Group, you can be assured that your money is invested in high quality, carbon dioxide reduction projects around the world. All of the carbon offsets that we purchase on your behalf have undergone stringent design, monitoring and verification processes so that you can be confident that the emission reductions are real and actually take place.

Our Project Quality Criteria

All of the carbon offsets we buy are accredited to internationally recognised and rigorous emission reduction standards.

Sustainable Development – helping communities better themselves in a way that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

Welfare – carbon offset projects must result in improvements to human quality of life and lead to safer living conditions for all participants.

Environmental Security – carbon offset projects must protect the local environment of the community in which they are undertaken and ensure that both short and long term improvements are achieved.

Accountability – carbon offset projects must be monitored by independent bodies to ensure criteria are met and that target calculations are accurately reported.

Transparency – All carbon offset projects must be able to clearly demonstrate how and where all investment is utilized.

Additionality – All carbon offset projects must produce carbon reductions or removals that could not have taken place without project implementation.

Project Types

Our primary focus is on carbon offset projects that reduce direct emissions of greenhouse gases produced by industry and other human activities, for example:

Renewable Energy - Wind Power, Hydro Power, Solar power, Sustainably grown biomass, Agricultural residues (crop and animal waste)

Forestry Projects - helping to remove carbon from the atmosphere with Land Use and Tree Planting projects, such as Afforestation and Reforestation

Kyoto Protocol compliant CDM carbon offset – A CER is a carbon offset certificate which is issued every time a Kyoto Protocol member state reduces or removes one tonne of CO2 (equivalent) through carbon projects registered with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Project Partners

Pure is a UK based registered charity with the specific objective of improving air quality - so combating climate change. Pure was conceived by a group of like-minded individuals that recognised the need for cost-effective voluntary solutions to the carbon problem which extend the success of emissions trading beyond mandatory schemes

PURE’s commitment to the highest quality of offsetting, retirement of regulated and properly tradeable credits and related carbon policy standards; and value and price transparency; is monitored by suitably qualified Independent Trustees.

Carbon Advice Group’s primary objective is to have as great an impact as possible in tackling global climate change. Humanity’s demands exceed our planet’s capacity to sustain us. If you are an individual or a business, start by reducing your consumption and your carbon footprint today. Small steps can make a BIG difference.

Carbon Advice Group is committed to assisting you in every step of the way in achieving your low carbon goals.

We promise that the carbon offsets that you purchase through us will:

• Be independently verified by a Designated Operational Entity
• Meet internationally recognised Carbon Offset standards
• Be registered, delivered and cancelled on your behalf with an Independent Carbon Credits Registry.

The international political response to climate change began with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted in 1992. Designed to raise awareness and build knowledge about the challenges and barriers faced by climate change mitigation, the UNFCCC set out a framework for action aimed at stabilising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

The Kyoto Protocol to the Convention, which was adopted in 1997 by more than 170 countries, significantly strengthened the UNFCCC by committing many industrialised countries and economies in transition, the so-called ‘Annex 1 countries’, to individual, legally-binding targets to limit or reduce their overall emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 5% below the 1990 levels of emission during the period 2008-2012.

In addition to setting the first ever international target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Kyoto Protocol established, for the first time, a means for developing countries to get involved in climate change mitigation, enabling a market-based solution to an environmental problem and bringing the issue of greenhouse gases to the mainstream of clean energy planning.

The Kyoto Protocol approved the use of 3 "flexible mechanisms" for facilitating the achievement of its GHG emission reduction targets. These are:

1) Emissions Trading: allowing the international transfer of national allocations of emission rights, between different Annex 1 countries;

2) The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM): a mechanism which allows for the creation of Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits through emission reduction projects in developing countries, regulated by the CDM Executive Board;

3) Joint Implementation: the creation of emissions reduction credits undertaken through transnational investment between countries and/or companies of the Annex 1 (industrialised countries).

The rationale behind these three mechanisms is that climate change is a global problem and that the location of the greenhouse gas emission reductions is irrelevant in scientific terms, and can thus be in any country.

While emission reductions generated by these three flexible mechanisms have different technical names dependant on which mechanism they arise from, they are collectively referred to as ‘carbon credits’. Carbon credits are measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) . One carbon credit represents one tonne of CO2e non-emitted or reduced. These three flexible mechanisms, along with the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) put in place by the European Union in order to meet its Kyoto target, created the largest environmental market in the world for the trading of these carbon credits

What is renewable energy?

Renewable energy is the term used to describe energy flows that occur naturally and continuously in the environment, such as energy from the wind, waves or tides. The origin of the majority of these sources can be traced back to either the sun (energy from the sun helps to drive the earth’s weather patterns) or the gravitational effects of the sun and the moon. This means that these sources are essentially inexhaustible.

The key issue is how to extract this energy as effectively as possible and convert it into more useful forms of energy. This can range from directly using the energy from the sun to heat water to using mechanical devices, such as wind turbines, to convert the kinetic energy in the wind into electrical energy.

Energy underpins virtually every aspect of our economy and day-to-day lives. However, the use of fossil fuels, which currently provide the bulk of our energy, releases greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere. Due to factors such as population growth and changes in lifestyle, the demand for energy has increased to levels where the burning of fossil fuels is releasing enough greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to begin to directly affect our climate system.

There is now a scientific consensus that climate change is real and that it poses an immense threat to the world we live in. Impacts of climate change will make global problems such as drought, famine, flooding, disease, regional insecurity and population displacements worse, and seriously hinder poor countries’ efforts to tackle poverty.

To help lessen the effects of climate change, we must reduce the level of greenhouse gases emitted. This can be achieved by generating our energy from sources that emit low or even zero levels of greenhouse gases, such as renewable energy. We can also make sure that we use energy as efficiently as possible. However, these are not either/or options.

General pollution

As well as countering the effects of climate change, using renewable energy will also help to reduce other forms of environmental and social damage arising from the use of fossil fuels. For example, it will minimise the impact of acid rain on water and forest ecosystems, or reduce localised air pollution and its subsequent health impacts.

Deforestation and other land-use changes account for as much as 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Protecting and restoring threatened forests in biodiversity hotspots can therefore make a significant contribution to reducing global climate change as well as conserving the Earth’s biodiversity.

Forestry Projects, known as Land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) activities are aimed at mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. LULUCF projects are confined to a specific geographic location, time period, and institutional framework to allow changes in carbon stocks or greenhouse gas emissions to be monitored and verified.

There are three broad types of LULUCF projects:

(i)	avoiding emissions via conservation of existing carbon stocks
(ii)	increasing carbon storage by sequestration
(iii)	substituting carbon for fossil fuel and energy-intensive products. Each of these types of project has a variety of subtypes.

As the world becomes more aware of the effects of global climate change, individuals and business entities are looking for ways they can take direct action to address climate change. The forestry sector is vitally important in these efforts because forests have a tremendous capacity to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2), a major greenhouse gas, through the process of photosynthesis. CO2 is absorbed from the atmosphere and stored as carbon in the biomass of stems, branches, leaves, and roots. When forest managers undertake projects to store carbon beyond "business as usual," the stored carbon can be available for trade to offset CO2 emissions of other entities. This market-based mechanism can contribute to overall GHG reduction goals.

(i)	Climate stabilization cannot be achieved this century without forests.1
(ii)	Tropical deforestation is the second largest source of greenhouse emissions.2
(iii)	Forestry has the greatest potential to reduce the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the next 25 years.3
(iv)	Forestry in developing countries delivers the largest mitigation potential of CO2 at the lowest cost.4
(v)	Forest carbon credits are the only meaningful incentive for developing countries to participate in international efforts to deal with climate change.5
(vi)	Forest carbon credits are the only means by which the rural poor of the developing world can adapt to climate change.6
(vii)	The poorest fifth of mankind is dependent on forests for its livelihood.7
(viii)	Forests provide food and fuel, purify fresh water, reduce erosion and control desertification.8
(ix)	The degradation of forested areas causes migration and communal conflict.9
(x)	Half of the world’s species live in tropical forests.10
(xi)	Illegal logging is stimulated by the absence of alternative value and a global shortage of sustainably managed timber.11
(xii)	Over 50% of harvested wood is burned for fuel.12

 

1. Stern, Nicholas, 2006, "Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change", November 2006
2. Stern, Nicholas, 2006, "Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change", November 2006
   Watson, Robert et al. eds." Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry. A Special Report of the IPCC",
   Cambridge University Press 2000.
3. Vattenfall, 2007, Global Mapping of Greenhouse Gas Abatement Opportunities up to 2030 http://www.vattenfall.com
4. Davidson, Ogunllade, et. el. eds., Climate Change 2001: Mitigation, Cambridge University Press
   2001, and Vattenfall, 2007, Global Mapping of Greenhouse Gas Abatement Opportunities up to 2030
   http://www.vattenfall.com
5. Stiglitz, Joseph, "Cleaning Up Economic Growth," Project Syndicate, 2005 and Maathai, Wangari,
   "Climate Change a Pressing Issue for Africa," 13 November 2006.
6. Maathai, Wangari, "Climate Change a Pressing Issue for Africa," 13 November 2006.
7. http://www.nature.org/rainforests/explore/facts.html
8. Swingland, I, ed., Capturing Carbon and Conserving Biodiversity: The Market Approach, The Royal Society, 2002
9. Watson, Robert T., et. al. eds., "The Regional Impacts of Climate Change; An Assessment of Vulnerability," Cambridge University Press 1998 and Schwartz, Peter and Doug Randall, "An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security," October 2003
10. Myers, N, 1988. Tropical forests and their species. In Biodiversity, E.O.Wilson ed. Washington DC: National Academy Press
11. See: . "State of the World’s Forests 2005" and "Global Forest Resource Assessment 2005", FAO 2006
12. Primarily as charcoal in Africa. See: UN FAO, State of the World’s Forests 2003, Rome 2003

Our energy projects aim to increase poor people’s access to energy technology options, through improving the efficiency and productivity of biomass use, and through small scale, low cost, off-grid electricity supply.

Carbon Advice Group works closely with organizations that help communities develop technology options which are appropriate to their needs.

Where biomass for cooking is the principal energy requirement, Carbon Advice Group’s partners bring technical improvements in its use; for example, by developing and commercialising low cost cooking stoves to improve upon the traditional three-stone cooking fires.

Where communities seek additional options for energy supply, Carbon Advice Group’s partners helps them to develop and promote sustainable energy technologies — sustainable, not only because they use renewable energy sources, but also because the community can participate in designing, building and maintaining the project. These options include micro-hydro plants, small scale wind generators, affordable solar lanterns, and biogas plants.

The benefits to communities can be dramatic.

Improved cooking stoves use one third of the amount of firewood as a traditional fire. They also reduce household smoke levels, with benefits to the health of women and children.

Small scale wind power generators can charge up the vehicle batteries which are used by hundreds of thousands of off-grid households to light their homes.

Micro-hydro plants can be used to mechanise crucial tasks like grain milling, and to power small businesses, as well as to bring community and household light.

On-farm biogas plants can provide 75% of household cooking needs, run lights and heat up irons – with a by-product of enriched fertiliser for farmers’ fields.

Access to these energy options brings greater income, reduced drudgery (in firewood collection and cleaning utensils, for example), better education for children who can study in a lighted home, and access to public goods like information through TV and radio, or lighting for community centres.

Pure is a UK based registered charity with the specific objective of improving air quality - so combating climate change. Pure was conceived by a group of like-minded individuals that recognised the need for cost-effective voluntary solutions to the carbon problem which extend the success of emissions trading beyond mandatory schemes

PURE’s commitment to the highest quality of offsetting, retirement of regulated and properly tradeable credits and related carbon policy standards; and value and price transparency; is monitored by suitably qualified Independent Trustees.

Via this website, donations to PURE financially support Kyoto Protocol emissions reduction projects around the world. Emission reductions are audited and verified by the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism; or for UK projects by the National Energy Foundation. These emissions reductions are witnessed by carbon credits; that might then be used by polluters within Kyoto emissions trading schemes for compliance purposes. However, the Trustees of Pure then cancel these credits from the international register which limits the amount of greenhouse gases that polluting companies are allowed to release into the atmosphere. This method both meets the proposed UK Government Code of Best Practice for carbon offsetting and offers a dual environmental benefit.

As a result, Pure:

• Is more effective against climate change
• Directly supports Kyoto Process
• Acts more rapidly against climate change
• Reduces carbon PLUS smog & acid rain
• Is fully transparent in terms of process and pricing

And because Pure are a registered charity they are able to boost individual donations with Gift Aid. In addition, having modest expenses means more of your money is used to combat climate change compared to most other carbon offsetting schemes.

All donations are used to buy and cancel carbon credits that are included in the government’s proposed Code of Best Practice for carbon offsetting. All carbon credits are bought from renewable energy and efficiency projects because these projects support sustainable development in the countries in which they are located.

All projects in developing countries are registered and verified through the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism.

 

United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust
Energy efficiency

• United Bristol Healthcare Trust runs eight hospitals in the centre and south of Bristol. It is one of the largest NHS Trusts in the UK and the major teaching and research centre for the South West of England.
• The Trust has installed a combined heat and power plant on site to provide its facilities with efficiently fired heating as well as its own on-site electricity generation.
• At the same time, an audit was done of all premises and a campaign to educate staff in ‘good housekeeping’ habits to cut energy usage was implemented.
• In addition, the ventilation system has been fitted with energy efficient devices.
• With the funds provided by PURE from the purchase of credits, the Trust is replacing old incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient light bulbs. This will cut energy used for ward lighting by 90% and save the Trust more money to be reinvested in patient services.

Open University
Energy efficiency

• Open University is based on a 60 building campus in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire where their research and teaching staff are based.
• Last year, in an effort to reduce emissions, all buildings were assessed for energy efficiency. New temperature controls were introduced to make sure heat was not wasted and distributed most efficiently.
• This allowed Open University to cut its energy usage. PURE bought the surplus EU Allowances that resulted from these reductions and retired them beyond re-use by other polluters.
• With the money Open University received from PURE, they are beginning a programme to install loft insulation in all buildings, further cutting their carbon footprint and saving money.

Stoke Mandeville Hospital
Energy Efficiency

• Stoke Mandeville Hospital is outside the market town of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. As well as regular hospital services the hospital is the National Spinal Injuries Centre.

To achieve its emission reductions, the hospital replaced its boilers. This reduced emissions in two ways:

1) The new boilers use cleaner burning natural gas instead of coal which is a more polluting fuel.

2) The hospital installed a Combined Heat and Power system (CHP) which generates electricity as well as heat and is much more energy efficient than the old boilers.

• The funds from PURE will be used to install equipment on the heating circulation pumps which will improve the heat recovery from the CHP and stop any heat escaping. This will improve the CHP’s electricity generating capacity and reduce the amount of fuel required by the boilers.

 

India - crop waste power plant
Malavalli Power Plant

• World's first 'Gold Standard' project to have its CERs issued.
• Generating clean, renewable electricity from crop waste such as coconut fronds and sugar cane trash.
• Reducing CO2 emissions by around 20,000 tonnes per year
• Directly creating at least 500 local jobs in the power plant and in the collection of the agricultural waste that the plant uses as a fuel
• Local farmers are now getting paid for crop waste that was previously left to rot or burned
• Directly contributing around US $1 million to the rural economy
• Waste from the power plant is environmentally beneficial as an organic fertilizer
• Supplies reliable electricity for around 10,000 people in 47 villages
• Reliable electricity further stimulates local economic activity

China - run-of-river hydropower
Shimenping Hydropower station, Zhouqu County

• The Gansu Zhouqu Shimenping Hydropower Station is located in Zhouqu County in North West China. The local population of Zhouqu County lives in extreme poverty and the county is designated as a national poverty county.
• Shimenping is a "run-of-river" power station. Instead of building a large dam which would flood valuable agricultural land and disturb wildlife, the project uses the natural flow of the river to generate clean electricity.
• A small amount of flood prone land will be lost due to the project, protection barriers will also be constructed to protect against landslides and flooding, creating an additional 100,000 square metres of protected farmland.
• Previously cut off for much of the flood season, a road has now been built into Shimenping village, thus improving access to education and healthcare for the local community.
• The project also provides employment in this remote part of China.
• The project reduces emissions by avoiding the need for electricity from coal-fired power plants. Annual reductions are expected to be around 67,000 tonnes, equivalent to the domestic energy emissions (i.e. gas and electricity) of around 12,000 UK homes.

Brazil - renewable energy and forest preservation
BK Energia Itacoatiara Power plant

• Itacoatiara is a power plant that uses waste wood from sustainably managed forests as a fuel, replacing electricity generated from polluting diesel generators.
• Renewable energy is generated for an area in the Amazon with a population of around 80,000.
• Waste wood is used from about 450,000 hectares of sustainably managed and FSC certified Amazon forest. Sustainable harvesting means that no more than 5 trees are harvested per hectare every 25 years and that low-impact logging techniques are applied in order to preserve the wildlife and to protect the forest canopy. In addition, 25% of the forest is set aside for absolute preservation and access to the forest is controlled to prevent illegal deforestation and the hunting of endangered species.
• The project’s other main environmental benefit is to protect an area of forest of around 1,800 square miles – roughly three-times the size of Greater London.
• Carbon emissions are reduced by around 165,000 tonnes per year. This is equivalent to the domestic energy emissions of a UK town of 60,000 people such as Scarborough.

China - wind power
Ningxia Tianjing Shenzhou wind farm

• This wind farm is located relatively poor region of China with a dry, desert-like region and a growing economy.
• Coal is cheap and plentiful in this area of China, and without the revenue from the sale of carbon credits, the wind farm would not be able to be price competitive with electricity from polluting coal-fired stations.
• The project, which started operating in 2004, consists of a total of 36 wind turbines which generate 70.38 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity each year, reducing carbon emissions by around 50,000 tonnes per year, equivalent to removing about 17,000 average British cars off the road each year.
• As well as reducing carbon emissions, the project also avoids other forms of air pollution. It is estimated that the wind farm prevents emissions of 170 tonnes of sulphur dioxide (which causes acid rain) each year and around 280 tonnes of NOx (which causes smog and respiratory disease).
• One of the additional benefits of the project is the stimulation of the growth of the wind power industry in Ningxia. Local engineers and technicians receive invaluable training through the implementation of the project. Likewise, the project uses "variable pitch" wind turbines which automatically adjust themselves depending on wind speed
• The project also benefits local tourism by providing electricity to the famous historical site, Xi Xia Emperor’s Tomb

India-Aleo Manali
Small Hydroelectric Project

• The Aleo Manali project generates renewable energy through a small hydropower plant sited in the foothills of the Himalayas in Northern India at an elevation of about 10,000 feet (3,000 metres).
• By using water, which is a clean source of electricity, instead of polluting fuels such as coal and diesel, the project reduces emissions by around 23,000 tonnes per year. This is equivalent to taking nearly 8,000 British cars off the road.
• The plant was designed to have a minimal impact on its surrounding environment. The project caused no flooding of forest and farmland and not a single tree was felled during its construction. The company has also obtained ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification of its environmental management system.
• As a small-scale project, Aleo Manali faced several significant technical and financial barriers which registration in the Clean Development Mechanism helped to overcome.
• The project owners have made a considerable investment in a rural area, as well as creating local jobs in the construction and operation of the plant.
• Aleo Manali has contributed to the local community by providing solar lights, repairing a local irrigation channel and sponsoring local community events.