Written Ministerial Statement by Hilary Benn on the Code of Best Practice for Carbon Offsetting - 19 February 2008
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Hilary Benn)
Today I am announcing the final framework for a Code of Best Practice for Carbon Offsetting. The Code will increase consumers’ confidence when purchasing offsets by endorsing established mechanisms which offset in a clear and verifiable way. The Code intends to inform and protect consumers by requiring providers of accredited offsets to supply clear information and transparent prices. A supporting quality mark and communications will help raise awareness about tackling climate change, the steps that consumers can take and the role offsetting can play. The Government encourages consumers to firstly avoid, and reduce their emissions and then use offsetting to tackle unavoidable emissions.
The Government’s appointed accreditation body, AEA published the draft Code today, a copy of which is available at:
www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/carbonoffset/codeofpractice.htm
AEA are seeking industry comments on the planned practical arrangements and we intend the final Code to be implemented in April.
Initially the Code will only grant accreditation to providers of Kyoto-complaint credits. The Government believes that these credits provide the best available guarantee to consumers that the amount of carbon they have purchased represents verifiable, additional carbon savings.
We recognise, however, the value the non-regulated market can add, in particular by enabling innovative offset projects to be tested prior to entering the compliance market. However, there is not yet a single agreed formal definition or fully operational standard for ‘good quality’ Voluntary Emissions Reductions (VERs), which currently prevents their inclusion in the Government Code. Therefore, I am inviting the industry to agree and put into practice its own standard for VERs, which can provide a similar level of assurance as the compliance mechanisms. This standard should address the principles of additionality, avoiding carbon leakage, permanence, verification, transparency and avoiding double counting. We will assist the industry to come together to discuss how this might be done.
Once industry has reached a consensus on a standard and it has been fully operational for six months, the Government will conduct an audit to confirm whether credits approved under the industry standard can be included under the Government Code.
Further information
Page published: 19 February 2008