co2 balance brochure

CarbonZero®Fight climate changeimprove liveswww.co2balance.co.ukc02balance UK Limited1 Discovery House, Cook Way, Bindon Road,Taunton, Somerset, TA2 6BJCarbonZero®CarbonZero FederationThe CarbonZero Federation is an alliance of businesses with over 500 members, that work with co2balance by utilising one or more of our professional services or carbon related investments. It exists as a web based forum and directory of services with information for all of these companies to exchange, experience and to do business with like minded organisations. We organise seminars on relevant topics to keep you better informed of coming developments in legislation and carbon related issues that may a?ect your business, as well as providing valuable networking opportunitieswithin the community. Global Climate ChangeClimate change is arguably the most signi?cant issue facing the global community in the 21st Century. International scienti?c opinion overwhelmingly supports the view that industrial emissions from human activities are causing the Earth’s climate to heat up. The release of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane) as a consequence of industrial development creates a “blanket” around the world that e?ectively traps heat that wouldotherwise be released back through the atmosphere. Carbon Management Carbon management is simply taking an active role to determine the environmental impact of your business and then doing something proactive to reduce that impact on an ongoing basis. Many organisations are focusing increasing resources in relation to carbonmanagement and generally we ?nd they have a need in one of ?ve areas;Cost ReductionBy careful measurement of a business’s total energy expenditure in terms of gas , electric , water and waste together with business travel, it is often possible to identify signi?cant measures to reduce wastage and improve e?ciency, in turn reducing the cost to the business. RegulationSome customers are in an industry that is obliged by regulation to report, reduce or manage their environmental impact such as compliance under the Kyoto Protocol or the CRC Energy Reduction Scheme (formally the Carbon Reduction Commitment), which covers around 10%of UK economy wide emissions.Market Di?erentiationMany organisations operate in a sector where market competition is strong and the product or service o?ered by a business needs to create a marketing proposition that di?erentiates them from their competitors. By marketing your product or business as CarbonZero you create the distinction that enables you to compete on real value and not simply price.Policy CommitmentMost large organisations have a range of policies originally designed to regulate how the company and its sta? operate in the business environment. Inevitably these policies commit the organisation to some veri?able actions to show their policies are more than just words on the intranet. Implementing actions to support corporate policy can be a real issue and incur unexpected costs. The cost burden to implement signi?cant actions in support of a policy such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or environmental programs can be reduced byproper management of resources.Corporate Citizenship. Successful organisations recognise a duty of care placed upon them to put a proportion of their pro?ts to good use for the bene?t of the wider community. In recent years CSR activities have been a key factor in winning public and wider business support for an organisation. This is seen in the weighting such activities can have in a tender response, or in the recruitment of key sta?, in particular younger graduate calibre candidates who value these things highly. However, identifying the right opportunities and putting such programsin place can be a costly and resource intensive activity. Personal CommitmentBusiness people are like all other groups in society with more than 70% interested in environmental alternatives where they are viable. Where an individual has the means and motivation to add a sustainable element to their organisation, it can often be quite di?cult to ?gure out just where to start from. You want to get the very best value from the money you areprepared to invest, but genuinely care about how that’s achieved. Professional Servicesco2balance have a team of experienced professionals, all trained to the highest standards to assist or advise in regard to the latest environmental legislation. Our professional services group can help you interpret the latest legislation and how it might apply to your business. Where your organisation is looking to save costs and remove administrative burden, we can o?er a managed services solution in all aspects of environmental and carbon management. In addition, our extensive research and development resources enable us to produce veri?able carbon footprint calculations for almost every type of product or service you may have. A greenhouse gas audit of your organisation is often the best starting point.MarketingMaking your product or service stand out from the crowd is not easy. To avoid competing solely on price you need a viable product di?erentiator. Environmental initiatives are very popular with consumers and business customers alike, but are often open to challenge and a high degree of scrutiny. To avoid charges of “Green washing”, marketing your product or service as a veri?ed Carbon Zero alternative, is not only a cost e?ective promotional tool leading to increased sales, it also re?ects well on the business and creates a wealth of PR and marketingpossibilities.Policy Commitment and CorporateCitizenshipAdding a professionally managed environmental management strategy to your business enhances your reputation with your sta? and customers alike. Actions such as energy or carbon reduction that form part of a wider environmental or CSR commitment can deliver on many fronts whilst the cost for such programs can easily be recovered from increased sales and employee engagement. The result is great approval ratings for employees and customer satisfaction without stretching centralised support budgets on less productive activities.Personal InvolvementWorking with co2balance gives you a unique connection to the projects you invest in. Because we are project developers, not just a broker selling carbon credits, we can give you unrivalled access to the development process. For example, our African energy e?cient stoves are all individually tracked to each household that bene?ts from the reduction in fuel and associated health and welfare improvements. We can even give you access to a ?le via Google Earth that enables you to seeexactly where your money has been invested.O?set ConceptCarbon o?setting is a proven methodology for reducing overall emissions from a business, service, process or product. However co2balance recommend it is only considered once all other avenues of e?ciency and reduction have been explored. To assess how much carbon to o?set for an organisation or a speci?c product, co2balance ?rstly calculate the carbon emissions associated with the organisation or product. At that point we have a carbon foot print for the item expressed in tCO2e or Carbon equivalent tonnes. Working in partnership we can then identify a series of measures to reduce the emissions as much as possible, such as improved transport, reduced packaging etc. By reducing emissions of carbon within a properly managed project elsewhere in the world, it is possible to balance the emissions generated from the organisation or product to achieve a CarbonZero state. This is the co2balanceconcept.Standards and veri?cationThe creation of veri?ed or certi?ed carbon credits takes place under a number of tightly controlled international standards. The CDM (for compliance customers) and Gold Standard (for voluntary o?set) specify only the highest quality projects that deliver strong bene?ts in terms of social, health and welfare developments, in addition to carbon reduction, in less economically developed countries. These premium standards are the process by which co2balance in house projects are both validated and veri?ed. Further project standards such as VCS (or Veri?ed Carbon Standard) o?er a wide range of projects from across the developing world that vary in their additional bene?ts. co2balance o?er high quality VCS projects as a cost e?ective option for use as part of a blended project portfolio.Business bene?tsBy managing the environmental impact of your business you can both reduce cost by minimising wastage and add value to your business. In general terms, co2balance look to partner with a business which aims to show leadership in a particular marketsector.CarbonZero products and services;Are low cost solutions, to demonstrate a company commitmentto the environment and CSR.Improve your rating in tender responses where customers wishto “green” their supply chain.Improve sta? engagement recruitment and retentionDi?erentiate your product or service from your market rivalCreate signi?cant PR and marketing opportunitiesReturn investment to your bottom line by increasing sales.co2balance servicesAbout co2balanceEstablished in 2003 and now a leading authority on project development particularly in Sub Saharan Africa, co2balance provides specialist professional services and products related to the carbon market. Our work helps to generate funding for the continuing development and implementation of managed offset projects in less developed countries, to the benefit of the global environment and the people in whose communities we live and work. We do this efficiently by applying the discipline of a highly successful business model.CarbonZero®CarbonZero FederationThe CarbonZero Federation is an alliance of businesses with over 500 members, that work with co2balance by utilising one or more of our professional services or carbon related investments. It exists as a web based forum and directory of services with information for all of these companies to exchange, experience and to do business with like minded organisations. We organise seminars on relevant topics to keep you better informed of coming developments in legislation and carbon related issues that may a?ect your business, as well as providing valuable networking opportunitieswithin the community. Global Climate ChangeClimate change is arguably the most signi?cant issue facing the global community in the 21st Century. International scienti?c opinion overwhelmingly supports the view that industrial emissions from human activities are causing the Earth’s climate to heat up. The release of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane) as a consequence of industrial development creates a “blanket” around the world that e?ectively traps heat that wouldotherwise be released back through the atmosphere. Carbon Management Carbon management is simply taking an active role to determine the environmental impact of your business and then doing something proactive to reduce that impact on an ongoing basis. Many organisations are focusing increasing resources in relation to carbonmanagement and generally we ?nd they have a need in one of ?ve areas;Cost ReductionBy careful measurement of a business’s total energy expenditure in terms of gas , electric , water and waste together with business travel, it is often possible to identify signi?cant measures to reduce wastage and improve e?ciency, in turn reducing the cost to the business. RegulationSome customers are in an industry that is obliged by regulation to report, reduce or manage their environmental impact such as compliance under the Kyoto Protocol or the CRC Energy Reduction Scheme (formally the Carbon Reduction Commitment), which covers around 10%of UK economy wide emissions.Market Di?erentiationMany organisations operate in a sector where market competition is strong and the product or service o?ered by a business needs to create a marketing proposition that di?erentiates them from their competitors. By marketing your product or business as CarbonZero you create the distinction that enables you to compete on real value and not simply price.Policy CommitmentMost large organisations have a range of policies originally designed to regulate how the company and its sta? operate in the business environment. Inevitably these policies commit the organisation to some veri?able actions to show their policies are more than just words on the intranet. Implementing actions to support corporate policy can be a real issue and incur unexpected costs. The cost burden to implement signi?cant actions in support of a policy such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or environmental programs can be reduced byproper management of resources.Corporate Citizenship. Successful organisations recognise a duty of care placed upon them to put a proportion of their pro?ts to good use for the bene?t of the wider community. In recent years CSR activities have been a key factor in winning public and wider business support for an organisation. This is seen in the weighting such activities can have in a tender response, or in the recruitment of key sta?, in particular younger graduate calibre candidates who value these things highly. However, identifying the right opportunities and putting such programsin place can be a costly and resource intensive activity. Personal CommitmentBusiness people are like all other groups in society with more than 70% interested in environmental alternatives where they are viable. Where an individual has the means and motivation to add a sustainable element to their organisation, it can often be quite di?cult to ?gure out just where to start from. You want to get the very best value from the money you areprepared to invest, but genuinely care about how that’s achieved. Professional Servicesco2balance have a team of experienced professionals, all trained to the highest standards to assist or advise in regard to the latest environmental legislation. Our professional services group can help you interpret the latest legislation and how it might apply to your business. Where your organisation is looking to save costs and remove administrative burden, we can o?er a managed services solution in all aspects of environmental and carbon management. In addition, our extensive research and development resources enable us to produce veri?able carbon footprint calculations for almost every type of product or service you may have. A greenhouse gas audit of your organisation is often the best starting point.MarketingMaking your product or service stand out from the crowd is not easy. To avoid competing solely on price you need a viable product di?erentiator. Environmental initiatives are very popular with consumers and business customers alike, but are often open to challenge and a high degree of scrutiny. To avoid charges of “Green washing”, marketing your product or service as a veri?ed Carbon Zero alternative, is not only a cost e?ective promotional tool leading to increased sales, it also re?ects well on the business and creates a wealth of PR and marketingpossibilities.Policy Commitment and CorporateCitizenshipAdding a professionally managed environmental management strategy to your business enhances your reputation with your sta? and customers alike. Actions such as energy or carbon reduction that form part of a wider environmental or CSR commitment can deliver on many fronts whilst the cost for such programs can easily be recovered from increased sales and employee engagement. The result is great approval ratings for employees and customer satisfaction without stretching centralised support budgets on less productive activities.Personal InvolvementWorking with co2balance gives you a unique connection to the projects you invest in. Because we are project developers, not just a broker selling carbon credits, we can give you unrivalled access to the development process. For example, our African energy e?cient stoves are all individually tracked to each household that bene?ts from the reduction in fuel and associated health and welfare improvements. We can even give you access to a ?le via Google Earth that enables you to seeexactly where your money has been invested.O?set ConceptCarbon o?setting is a proven methodology for reducing overall emissions from a business, service, process or product. However co2balance recommend it is only considered once all other avenues of e?ciency and reduction have been explored. To assess how much carbon to o?set for an organisation or a speci?c product, co2balance ?rstly calculate the carbon emissions associated with the organisation or product. At that point we have a carbon foot print for the item expressed in tCO2e or Carbon equivalent tonnes. Working in partnership we can then identify a series of measures to reduce the emissions as much as possible, such as improved transport, reduced packaging etc. By reducing emissions of carbon within a properly managed project elsewhere in the world, it is possible to balance the emissions generated from the organisation or product to achieve a CarbonZero state. This is the co2balanceconcept.Standards and veri?cationThe creation of veri?ed or certi?ed carbon credits takes place under a number of tightly controlled international standards. The CDM (for compliance customers) and Gold Standard (for voluntary o?set) specify only the highest quality projects that deliver strong bene?ts in terms of social, health and welfare developments, in addition to carbon reduction, in less economically developed countries. These premium standards are the process by which co2balance in house projects are both validated and veri?ed. Further project standards such as VCS (or Veri?ed Carbon Standard) o?er a wide range of projects from across the developing world that vary in their additional bene?ts. co2balance o?er high quality VCS projects as a cost e?ective option for use as part of a blended project portfolio.Business bene?tsBy managing the environmental impact of your business you can both reduce cost by minimising wastage and add value to your business. In general terms, co2balance look to partner with a business which aims to show leadership in a particular marketsector.CarbonZero products and services;Are low cost solutions, to demonstrate a company commitmentto the environment and CSR.Improve your rating in tender responses where customers wishto “green” their supply chain.Improve sta? engagement recruitment and retentionDi?erentiate your product or service from your market rivalCreate signi?cant PR and marketing opportunitiesReturn investment to your bottom line by increasing sales.co2balance servicesAbout co2balanceEstablished in 2003 and now a leading authority on project development particularly in Sub Saharan Africa, co2balance provides specialist professional services and products related to the carbon market. Our work helps to generate funding for the continuing development and implementation of managed offset projects in less developed countries, to the benefit of the global environment and the people in whose communities we live and work. We do this efficiently by applying the discipline of a highly successful business model.CarbonZero®Fight climate changeimprove liveswww.co2balance.co.ukc02balance UK Limited1 Discovery House, Cook Way, Bindon Road,Taunton, Somerset, TA2 6BJ