New carbon offset guide

The Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute want you to remember that not all Carbon Offset Programs are created equal. After being bombarded with questions from customers about who has the “best” carbon offset credits, the two organizations decided to make the answers a little easier. By looking at a series of criteria, they ranked 20 notable carbon offset vendors from best to worst.

The resulting Purchasing Carbon Offsets Guide is meant to help customers decide where to put their carbon offset dollars. According to the Suzuki Foundation, the most important thing to consider is whether the offset will really help the climate.

The key criterion is what they call “addtionality.” Because there’s no extra benefit by paying for something that would have happened anyway, “additionality” ensures things like air travel are offset. Higher marks were awarded to vendors with strong “additionality.”Naturally, some vendors are upset by the results. Some of the criteria for the ranking had little to do with the quality of their carbon credits. This includes criteria such as accounting, and transparency. Those who objected said these in particular were judged unfairly.

One of the vendors most upset is the one selected as the official carbon-offset supplier of the Olympics, Vancouver-based Offsetters. They placed 11^th on the list, but the Pacific Carbon Trust recently compiled a similar list, and ranked them first.

The moral of the story? There are no easy answers. A guide may exist, but consumers are still encouraged to do their own research.

Even with carbon credits, the old maxim holds: caveat emptor.