Major UK retailer to buy 1 million voluntary offsets
Published: 22 Feb 2011 17:29 CET Last updated: 22 Feb 2011 18:07 CETSource - point Carbon
The UK’s Co-operative Group could buy around 1 million voluntary credits by the end of 2012.
The group, which is owned by its members and is a major player in UK food retail and financial services, said Tuesday it may have to buy around 1 million offsets in order to meet a target announced last Friday to become carbon neutral by the end of 2012.
“Our emissions were around 1.1 million in 2009 and we reckon we will need something near that number to be carbon neutral,” said Ben Norbury of the Co-operative.
The Co-op’s move to become carbon neutral in such a short space of time – part of a multi-pronged ‘Ethical Operating Plan’ – means it will become one of the UK’s biggest buyers of voluntary offset credits.
Co-op, which employs 120,000 in the UK, also aims to double its support for clean energy to £1 billion ($1.62 billion), cut the group's operational carbon emissions 35 per cent by 2017 and ensure that financial products offered by the company are not involved in funding fossil fuels.
Previously, Co-op has only bought tens of thousands of offsets, but is now ramping up its purchase plan to offset emissions across the group’s operations, particularly energy consumption at its stores and offices, as well as distribution and transport.
Projects
Co-op buys credits from the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), one of the main industry standards in the voluntary market.
The offsets are sourced by JP Morgan Climate Care from projects that can demonstrate wider environmental and sustainable development benefits, such as treadle pumps in India and efficient cooking stoves in Cambodia.
“The use of treadle pumps in India, rather than diesel-based generators, cuts emissions and helps farmers in other ways, such as improving harvests and delivering greater income,” Norbury said.
Co-op will buy from similar projects in the future but on a much larger scale, Norbury said, providing a much-needed boon for the voluntary carbon market.
Since 2008, the non-compliance market has been struggling in the face of the economic downturn and lack of a future US trading scheme, where voluntary credits might have been eligible.
Carbon Neutrality
Edward Hanrahan, a spokesman for the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (Icroa), said that demand from UK companies for voluntary market offsets was likely 12 million tonnes last year, catapulting the Co-op into the upper tier of buyers.
Other major UK-based buyers of voluntary offsets include the London-based operations of HSBC bank, Barclays Bank, and US-owned Land Rover, a UK brand of offroad vehicles.
Despite the lingering impact of the economic downturn on the willingness of companies and consumers to offset, demand in the UK’s voluntary market, Europe’s largest, may pick up this year as companies aim to meet carbon neutral targets, said Hanrahan, who is also head of sales at JP Morgan Climate Care.
Marks and Spencer, one of the UK’s biggest food and clothing retailers, may have to buy voluntary credits by the end of next year to meet a £200 million commitment made in 2007 to become carbon neutral by 2012.
Source - Point Carbon
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