Climate Positive is a term which has come into use in the last year or two and has been used by many businesses to mean many things. Without a nationally or internationally agreed standard definition of this term, each business using it must ensure that a clear definition of their interpretation of the term is included whenever it is used. Our members have been using it to indicate that they have offset two times (200%) their annual footprint, as opposed to just 100%.
At Planet Mark, we feel that there is strong potential to mis-use the term to cover up lack of action against climate change. It can be very easy to think you’re doing the right thing by offsetting, but in fact this can distract us from focusing attention on the real actions that will help to reduce carbon emissions and halt the climate crisis. At Planet Mark, we need to be true to our vision and focus on averting the climate crisis; not promoting offsetting projects.
We are seeing the latest offsetting trend diminish a little and have always been aware of the high potential of offsetting to be a greenwash for businesses not wanting to appear to be sustainable without changing behaviours. We will be continuing to offer, but not promote, offsetting services. While we see there is short-term benefit to offsetting footprints, we need to continue to focus strongly on acting to reduce our business (and personal) carbon footprints rather than continuing with the mindset that it’s ok to have emissions as long as we offset. To avoid any accusations of greenwash, we commit to verifying offsets bought by our members against the international carbon neutral standard of PAS 2060, and will recommend that any offsets bought by any business are done so through a reputable supplier with strong due-diligence, and a focus on gold standard projects.
Planet Mark recommend and support businesses to set ambitious Net Zero targets and start programmes that support immediate reduction of business carbon emissions, whilst using carbon offsets and particularly carbon removal schemes to help mitigate emissions along the journey.
If you are a Planet Mark member and have any questions, please do get in touch with the team and we’ll be happy to help. If you are new to Planet Mark and would like to find out more, please email info@planetmark.com
