How to Offset Your Emissions
Five steps are all you need to offset your emissions
Along the way, you also get to choose your contribution to sustainable development
footprint
Step 1 - Footprint
Get to Know Your Carbon Footprint
We all have a carbon footprint – climate change means we have to reduce it
Knowing your footprint helps you work out the carbon credits needed to offset your emissions
Personal Carbon Footprint
For a personal footprint, you can use online calculators with your own actual data or simply use the national average emissions per person for where you live
- For Australia, in September 2022 it was 18.88 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) per person (490.5 MtCO2e/ 25,978,935 people)
We don’t endorse any particular emissions calculator
- things to consider before using a calculator include are they country specific, use correct emission factors, updated regularly?
Remember to round up to the next full tonne
- we do not sell part tonnes as all our carbon offsets have serial numbers issued by either Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Gold Standard
Business Carbon Footprint
To work out a carbon footprint for a business, your emissions need to be identified and calculated are in an accurate and credible way
You have the option to
- do this yourself by using resources like Australia’s National Greenhouse Accounts Factors (NGAF), or
- use an online calculator, or
- you can use Beyond Neutral‘s expertise and experience
We can develop your footprint or we can validate your data prior to submission for verification
A quality carbon footprint developed specifically for your business
Working with our clients to develop their carbon footprint, we take into account their specific needs, helping them with all aspects of the carbon footprinting process
Beyond Neutral offers a full carbon service, beyond carbon offsets and footprints
We provide clear and accessible advice to improve your understanding of this jargon rich field
If you wish to make any claims about carbon neutrality, then you need a credible carbon footprint
goals
Step 2 - Goals
What Do You Want from Your Offsets
Now you know your footprint, what do you want to achieve from using carbon credits to offset your emissions?
How far do you want to move along the emissions and sustainability axes?
Offsetting Your Emissions – How far do you want to go?
Do you want to offset:
- aspects of your lifestyle/ business (e.g. vehicles, electricity use, travel, etc), or
- your annual carbon footprint, or
- your historic emissions, or
- more than your footprint, moving beyond carbon neutral – to be an active participant and part of the climate solution
Sustainability Beyond Carbon – carbon credits do more than just offset emissions
Which aspects of sustainability (environmental, social, economic) do you want to contribute to?
You can choose a selection of carbon offsets to purchase
- Is low offset cost the primary focus?
- Do you want to achieve sustainability outcomes at an average price per tonne that doesn’t break the bank?
- Do you want to maximise the sustainability dividend with the unit price a secondary consideration?
- Is there a particular outcome you want to support (better health, access to schooling, biodiversity protection, etc)
Our Carbon Shop enables you to filter sustainability outcomes, or
contact us and we will tailor a carbon offset solution to meet your specific criteria and goals.
choose
Step 3 - Choose
Explore our Carbon Offset Portfolio
Select carbon offsets to achieve your environmental and sustainability goals at a price that meets your economic criteria
You can choose to buy your carbon credits from a single project or from several
A wide spread of potential options are on offer so you can select your preferred mix of climate change and sustainability outcomes
Mixing lower cost and high sustainability projects can help achieve your desired average price while contributing to SDGs
Buying carbon offsets from several different projects offers a greater range of sustainability outcomes
Choose carbon credits from projects focused on Renewables, People or Ecosystems
You can buy carbon credits from the projects listed in our Carbon Offset Portfolio via our Carbon Shop
Looking to buy a larger quantity of carbon offsets or want to explore other options, contact us
Larger Quantities and Unusual Requests
We will provide you with a personalised list of projects meeting your criteria whatever they are
- tonnage
- location
- project type
- vintage
- Standard
- price per tonne
The voluntary carbon offset market is highly dynamic – available projects, tonnages, locations and vintages are regularly changing
Using our suppliers and the spot market, we ensure you are getting the most up-to-date listings and pricing
buy
Step 4 - Buy
Buying Carbon Offsets
Once you know your carbon footprint, what you want to achieve and the carbon credits you want,
you need to buy them
Go to our Carbon Shop to buy your carbon credits today!
If you want a more personalised service, contact us
The Beyond Neutral Carbon Shop is an e-commerce solution to your need to buy carbon offsets
Our aim is to make it easy to buy carbon offsets
Retirement or Transfer
When you buy carbon credits, they need to be retired by Beyond Neutral on your behalf
- Alternatively, we can transfer them to you if you have an account with the appropriate Registry: Verra’s VCS Registry or Gold Standard’s Impact Registry
Do we sell part tonnes?
In summary, no
Whatever your carbon footprint is, simply round it up to the next full tonne
- For example, to offset the average Australian footprint of 18.88 tCO2e means you would buy 19 tonnes
- You can also go past neutral and become an active part of the solution
Each Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Gold Standard carbon credit represents 1 tonne of CO2e
Each credit is issued with a unique serial number that is extinguished when the carbon offset is retired, never to be used again
We do not sell part tonnes so the carbon credits you buy are yours alone, with no chance of double or dodgy accounting
If buying offsets to meet Australia’s Climate Active requirements
Ensure the carbon units you are purchasing are “eligible offset units” as defined by Climate Active’s Carbon Neutral Standard
- All carbon credits on sale through the Beyond Neutral Carbon Shop are “eligible offset units” under the Carbon Neutral Standard
If buying for another scheme, please check that the carbon offsets you buy meet that scheme’s requirements. Contact us if unsure
If your purchase is not a part of any scheme, you have freedom in your choice of carbon credits
retire
Step 5 - Retire
Retire Your Carbon Offsets
After buying your carbon credits, you need to retire them in the relevant Registry in order to claim them as an offset against your emissions
Beyond Neutral will do this for you at no additional cost. We will provide you plenty of evidence when it is done
Offset Retirement
The carbon offsets will be permanently retired through either Verra’s VCS Registry or Gold Standard’s Impact Registry
Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Gold Standard carbon credits are both tracked using unique serial numbers
Retirement of the carbon offsets is permanent, with the serial number extinguished so the offsets are never able to be double-counted or on-sold
Once the offsets are retired, no further changes can be made to the retirement details so the name and retirement message need to be correct and agreed at the time of retirement
Can I see the retirement?
Retired credits are able to be viewed by anyone through the relevant Registry, either Verra’s VCS Registry or Gold Standard’s Impact Registry. You can search by serial number, project number, project name, country, etc
Details about the retirement other than the retiree’s name and the retirement message are always publicly listed on the relevant Registry
Beyond Neutral’s default position (it is our preference and we strongly recommend it) is that all details of the retirement, including name and message, be made publicly viewable on the Registry.
Public listing is a mandatory requirement for Climate Active participants
What documentation supports the retirement?
When retiring your carbon credits, we will need to know the name the retirement is to be made on behalf of, and your preferred retirement message
Once your carbon offsets are retired, you will receive sufficient documentation providing clear evidence that they have been retired
- If you are a Climate Active participant, the documentation supplied will meet their, and your verifier’s, requirements
The documentation contains information on the quantity and serial numbers of the offsets retired, the date of retirement, the offset project’s details, who retired the offsets and why
Visit our Carbon Store
All the projects sold by Beyond Neutral are accredited under either VCS or Gold Standard , so the offset you buy has been created by a project
- that follows a specific methodology
- has been verified as having occurred by one of that Standard’s third party verification bodies
- is tracked in that Standard’s Registry using a unique serial number from issuance until retirement on your behalf
