Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
Carbon offsetting is the process of reducing the net carbon emissions of an individual or organisation, either by their actions or through arrangements with a carbon-offset provider. Carbon-offset providers are companies that either prevent the emission of gases that would otherwise find their way into the atmosphere or companies that absorb carbon dioxide (or other greenhouse gases) that have already been emitted into the atmosphere. They then “sell” that reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) or other greenhouse gases to companies that produce greenhouse gases.
Although no universally accepted definition of the concept exists, all definitions follow the same general lines: carbon neutrality involves achieving zero net emissions associated with an organisational unit, product, service or process. The zero net emissions target is generally achieved through a combination of internal emission reduction and external carbon offsetting. The established process to achieve best-practice carbon neutrality is:
- Each stage requires the use of agreed standards and independent verification or oversight.
- Estimating The Amount Of CO2 Produced
- Estimating the quantity of emissions associated with an activity is contentious.
CAP recommends that advertisers wanting to estimate the amount of CO2 to claim carbon neutrality should use sound calculation methodologies produced such as the The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. To ensure that their data assurance strategies are sound, they should have received advice from reputable experts.
We recommend marketers to make clear in their advertisements the elements they have included in their calculations. For example, the ASA considered that most people would expect a claim of "carbon neutral journeys" to refer to those aspects of the journey for which the advertiser was responsible: the traction energy used by a train, the auxiliary energy used to power lights and heating and the global warming potential of the chemicals that leaked from the on-board refrigerants and air conditioning units but not the energy used in the manufacture of the rolling stock or the track, stations and tunnels (Eurostar Group Ltd, 4 June 2008).
If the ad had included an unqualified claim such as “Carbon Neutral” that had not made clear that the claim referred only to journeys, the ASA might have decided that the quantity of emissions that had to be offset was larger than for the claim “carbon neutral journeys”.
Offsetting The Emissions
The ASA expects companies that claim carbon neutrality to offset their carbon emissions in a robust and verifiable manner. Generally that can be achieved by buying offsets from companies that run emissions-reduction or emission-capture projects that comply with a generally recognised standard.
To date, the ASA has commissioned expert advice on the robustness of three international offsetting standards. The ASA understands that the key factors that need to be taken into account when considering whether an offsetting standard is robust are additionality, validation, verification, project type, timing of credits, leakage and prevention of double counting. It would use the same criteria to consider the robustness of other offsetting standards.
The ASA considered that projects that conformed to the standards of the three schemes listed below had been evaluated and validated to a high enough level to be compatible with a robust and verifiable offsetting system. Marketers who had accurately estimated the amount of carbon that had to be offset and who bought offsets that were certified by any of the three schemes could substantiate that their activities were carbon neutral.
Name of Scheme Carbon credit per tonne of CO2 equivalent offset
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Certified Emissions Reduction (CER)
Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) Voluntary Carbon Unit (VCU)
Voluntary Gold Standard
(GS VER) Gold Standard Verified Emission Reduction (GS VER)
Advice on the acceptability of carbon neutral claims in marketing communications is available from the Copy Advice team by telephone on 020 7492 2100, by fax on 020 7404 3404 or by e-mail on advice@cap.org.uk. The Copy Adivce website, www.copyadvice.org.uk contains a list of Help Notes as well as access to the AdviceOnline database, which has links to relevant Code rules and ASA adjudications.
Last modified : 25 November 2011