Tourism & CC Challenges & Opportunities - Global Commons Institute

Situational Analysis
Overall, Gössling et al. (2007) list a number of preconditions for credible and efficient compensation schemes.
For instance, emissions should be compensated fully, based on the correct calculation of emissions. This in turn
demands adequate aviation data, and the consideration of warming effects by non-CO 2
greenhouse gases. The
latter is difficult, though, as the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released during a flight, as well as their
contribution to global warming, will necessarily be estimated rather than measured. At the most basic level, this
is due to the infeasibility of measuring the emissions of individual vehicles, be they surface vehicles or aircraft.
Emissions estimates for the purposes of offsets thus assume average operating conditions and typical engine sizes,
allowing emission factors to be applied as multipliers to the distance travelled. At the most detailed level, a more
accurate calculation would have to consider the type of aircraft used by the traveller, its fuel use, occupancy rate,
route, cruising altitude, the time of the day flown, and even particular weather conditions, such as the presence
of supersaturated zones. All of these factors will ultimately affect the individual traveller’s contribution to climate
change (IPCC, 1999).
The US non-governmental organisation Clean Air-Cool Planet (2006) evaluated 30 retail offset providers using
the following seven criteria: prioritization of offset quality, buyer’s ability to transparently evaluate offset quality,
transparency in provider operations and offset selection, provider’s understanding of technical aspects of offset
quality, priority assigned by the provider to educating consumers about climate change and climate change
policy, ancillary sustainable development benefits of the offset portfolio, use of third-party project protocols and
certification. Based on these criteria, the top 25% of providers were recommended to consumers and included:
AgCert/Driving Green (Ireland), Atmosfair (Germany), Carbon Neutral co (UK), Climate Care (UK), Climate Trust
(US), co2balance (UK), Native Energy (US), Sustainable Travel/My Climate (US). Note, however, that there are
substantial differences in between these offset providers, some of which (e.g. Climate Care) have received massive
negative media campaigns due to the character of their projects. For instance, one recent article in The Sunday
Times (23 September 2007, “The ‘carbon offset’ child labourers”) questioned whether child labour could be part of
offsetting schemes, and The Times asked on 28 August 2007: “To cancel out the CO 2
of a return flight to India, it will
take one poor villager three years of pumping water by foot. So is carbon offsetting the best way to ease your conscience?”
Both articles referred to Climate Care.
The Tufts Climate Initiative (2006) based at Tufts University in the US similarly evaluated 13 offset companies using
a different set of criteria that included: quality of offsets, standards and verification, quality of air travel calculator
parameters and accuracy with available science, price per ton of carbon offset, transparency, company profile
(whether or not the company is a non-profit and when established), and overhead percentage used to cover
operating costs. The four offset companies that were recommended without reservation were:
• Atmosfair
• Climate Friendly
• MyClimate
• Native Energy
For additional analysis and price comparison of these providers see table 8. In an analysis of customer perspectives
on offsetting, Gössling et al. (2008b) concluded that a simple rule for customers is that offset providers offering
Gold Standard Certified Emission Reductions (GS CER) are generally acceptable. The combination of Gold Standard,
a quality label developed by several non-governmental organisations that is recognized by UNFCCC, and the
CER standard guarantee that emissions offsets have been independently verified and registered by UNFCCC, also
fulfilling high sustainability standards. GS CER offsets are provided by Atmosfair and My Climate, both of which also
cancel credits in the UN registry after these have been sold to customers, to avoid interference of voluntary emission
reductions with regulatory markets (registered credits would otherwise “help” the regulatory markets to achieve
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