Graig Farm and Carbon Offsetting
Offsetting
Offsetting means paying someone to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere by the same amount that your activities add. In this way you can 'balance' the CO2 added by your activities. We have chosen to work with Climate Care to offset our CO2 emissions, and to enable our customers to offset the CO2 produced in delivering their parcels from Graig Farm.
How effective is offsetting
There has been a large amount of discussion regarding the effectiveness of offsetting in recent years. Graig Farm has taken a position where we give our customers the option of offsetting their delivery, as well as having offset all of our business activities each year. As there has been discussion as to the effectiveness of offsetting we would like to give our position regarding offsetting.
Offsetting is only of use if all measures to reduce resource use have already been made. At Graig Farm we have recently had an environmental assessment carried out by Eco-Logical UK Ltd. This highlighted the ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint. We have taken action on the measures highlighted in the assessment such as changing our mail order packaging, changing to a renewable energy supplier and changing our working practices to reduce the resources we use.
Only after having done everything in our power to reduce our impacts did we consider offsetting the environmental effects that we cannot reduce. It is not a way of assuaging our guilt or shortcutting our responsibilities but rather a way we can take responsibility for the effects our business has that we are not able to reduce.
For this purpose we have offset all of our business activities with the exception of our mail order deliveries and offer the option of offsetting to our customers. We give customers this option as we do not have the financial ability to offset the amount of orders that we process each year. By making the offset an option it is entirely to the customers discretion to whether they would like to offset or not.
We believe this is the fairest way of operating, rather than making the offset compulsory or affecting customers who do not wish to offset by including it in our prices.
We also take great care in our choice of offsetting scheme and use Climate Care who ensure the money raised is invested in projects that are not already part of a governments environmental commitments.
We believe that our operations should be as transparent as possible and if you have any questions or suggestions as to how we can improve environmentally we would love to hear from you.
Projects 
Climate Care offsets your CO2 by funding projects around the world.
These can be in:
- Renewable energy – this replaces non-renewable fuel such as coal
- Energy efficiency – this reduces the amount of fuel needed
- Forest restoration – this absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere as the trees grow
Here are a few of the projects which Climate Care is involved with funding:
Lighting up education in Kazakhstan
Energy efficient lamps for schools energy programmeKazakhstan is a former Soviet state and almost all of its electricity is generated from coal in power stations. This means that the CO2 emissions for each unit of energy generated is very high. The majority of people use traditional incandescent lights in buildings, which use far more electricity than modern efficient ones. The main barriers to their use are that people do not know about the efficient ones and if they do, cannot afford them.
Climate Care are providing the cost of the compact fluorescent lamps, delivered to the project partner, who will then distribute them to the schools. Schools have also been given a small number to distribute to students to replace lamps in their homes.
Efficient stoves in Honduras
Cleaner air and healthier kitchens protect people and planet.Winner: Health and Welfare Award
Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy 2005.
The traditional open wood stove provides a vital source of heat and energy for some of the poorest communities across the world. Yet these stoves can have a devastating impact on the health of the women and children who gather around them – and the local forests which are harvested for fuel. In Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, over half of the homes rely on these stoves.
Energy efficient stoives have been developed locally, and are being introduced through a revolving credit scheme. As fuel bills are cut by 50% this becomes financially possible. Climate Care is involved in funding this project.
Restoring a Rainforest in Uganda
Kibale National Park lies in western Uganda in equatorial central Africa and covers some 56,000 hectares. It contains an outstanding 13 species of primates, including chimpanzees. Much of the forest was destroyed in the 1970s, and since the 1990s efforts have been underway in the park to restore this deforested area.
A major barrier to the natural regeneration of the forest is the growth of elephant grass. It has been found that the best way of controlling the grass is to cut it down before planting the saplings, which must all be done by hand. It must then be cut down again at least three times a year until enough of a canopy is formed by the trees to shade out the sunlight.
Monitoring
All these projects are properly monitored to ensure that the efforts are effective.
So as well as taking steps to reduce your 'carbon footprint' you can offset what remains, helping to promote low-carbon technologies where they make the most impact.
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