Offsets, trees and forest protection

Offsets 

Offsets are an important, temporary, part of the solution.

We all need to avoid and reduce carbon emissions to reach Net Zero. Our research suggests that people can currently reduce their carbon emissions to a level consistent with the Paris 1.5C goal but to reach Net Zero some nature based offsets are required.

As a result we do include nature based offsets.  We don’t include offsets which are not nature based. If you are intending to use these types of offsets we suggest the following:

• Consider the cost, if it’s just a few pounds per tonne does that make intuitive sense in terms of the true cost?
• Follow the UN principles that any offsets must be additional, verifiable, traceable, long term and contribute to sustainable development

Tree Planting

Tree planting can help reduce your carbon footprint but it's only a temporary solution, we all need to cut carbon at the same time. 

You can tell us about the number of trees you plant, each year, in Giki Zero and we'll work out the amount of carbon they could remove over the next few years. 

We don't calculate the amount of carbon a tree could remove over their whole life because we need to match the carbon sequestration to the time frame we have to drastically cut emissions. As a result you may need to plant more trees than you expect! However, not only is that good for reducing carbon it's also good for biodiversity.

A common question is whether there's enough space for us all to plant trees? Academics have calculated we could plant up to 0.9 billion hectares, or over 1 trillion trees, without affecting current forests, agricultural or urban land, so we've got plenty of room.

Forest Protection 

Protecting rainforests can help reduce your carbon footprint but it's only a temporary solution, we all need to cut carbon at the same time. 

You can tell us about the number of acres of rain forest you protect each year (that's the amount that would have been cut down without your intervention) and we'll estimate the amount of carbon that saves. 

Estimating how much carbon is saved from protecting rainforests is exactly that, an estimate.