About

Carbon Clear Limited is a carbon management company that helps businesses and individuals to reduce their carbon impact. With offices in London and Paris, Carbon Clear is one of the largest independent firms operating in the carbon management sector.

Carbon Clear helps companies demonstrate a commitment to environmental responsibility by measuring corporate carbon footprints and advising on greenhouse gas emission reductions. In addition, Carbon Clear invests in carbon offset projects to cancel out the greenhouse gas pollution that is generated by activities such as travel, energy consumption, transportation and supply chain operations. Corporate customers include Eurostar, Multimap, Innocent Drinks, 3M and Computer Cab, part of Comfort Delgro Corporation.

Carbon Clear is committed to a sustainable future and leads by example. As the first full service carbon management company with an ISO 14001 certified environmental management system, the company works to measure and continuously improve all aspects of its own environmental performance. This means that Carbon Clear has made it a priority to address its corporate energy consumption, resource use, waste disposal and other environmental aspects – including corporate greenhouse gas emissions.

In January 2007, Carbon Clear committed to achieve carbon neutrality at the end of each year by reducing and offsetting its own corporate emissions, and by leveraging the company’s expertise to help its large and growing network of partners and customers reduce their carbon footprints.

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Strategy

Carbon Clear’s environmental strategy includes measures that:

Reduce the company carbon footprint

Carbon Clear measures and tracks its carbon footprint on an annual basis against the ISO 14064-1: 2006 standard for corporate emissions reporting. The company’s carbon footprint includes direct corporate emissions, energy indirect emissions, and indirect emissions from key suppliers of goods and services to the company. In 2006 and 2007, Carbon Clear’s main greenhouse gas emissions sources were from office energy consumption, corporate business travel, and the use of paper and other materials. Carbon Clear has accordingly prioritised these activities to achieve significant internal emission reductions.

To cut energy consumption, the company has increased the use of natural light in corporate offices and provided all staff members with energy efficient laptop computers instead of desktop machines. Carbon Clear’s corporate travel policy requires staff to use public rail and bus transportation as the default option for business related travel. To reduce the carbon impact of paper and materials use, the company sources 100% recycled paper, has instituted an electronic document system to cut paper consumption, and has installed recycling bins on every floor to reduce resource flow to landfills.

Leverage corporate resources and capabilities

Carbon Clear generates greenhouse gas emissions reductions far in excess of the company’s own carbon footprint. In 2007 the company worked with over 70 businesses worldwide that have made a commitment to environmental sustainability, helping them to plan and implement corporate carbon reduction strategies that cut emissions and engage stakeholders both within and outside their organisations.

In November 2007, Carbon Clear partnered with Eurostar to make all of its high-speed train journeys carbon-neutral. With rail already acknowledged as one of the greenest travel modes Eurostar wanted to go further. Therefore, Eurostar’s carbon offset partnership with Carbon Clear will see emission reductions of over 50,000 tonnes of CO2 by the end of 2008. To implement the offset programme, Carbon Clear worked with Eurostar to identify and purchase carbon offset credits from high quality renewable energy projects in India and China. While this offset programme forms a core part of its “Tread Lightly” initiative, the journey does not stop there; Eurostar has also set a target to reduce emissions per passenger journey by 25% before 2012.

Help poorer communities make the low-carbon transition

As a provider of specialist finance and expertise for carbon offset projects, Carbon Clear has the ability to help communities in developing countries make the transition to a lower-carbon future. As part of its corporate strategy, Carbon Clear has prioritised long-term investment in emission reduction projects that both cut carbon and generate lasting livelihood improvements in developing countries.

In 2007, Carbon Clear committed direct funding to 6 carbon offset projects in developing countries:

Funding for technology to help artisan brick and tile producers in Nicaragua. The project reduces greenhouse gas emissions by introducing agricultural residues to displace non-renewable fuel wood to fire brick kilns. The project helps to preserve the resource base by dramatically reducing the amount of wood that kiln operators must use to fire their bricks. In addition, the new kiln designs reduce fuel costs by up to 35%, helping to boost incomes for small entrepreneurs and their employees in one of Latin America's poorest countries. The project will avoid emissions of 40,000 tonnes of CO2 over its five-year lifetime.

Support for four community tree planting initiatives in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Tamil Nadu, India. These projects reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging the growth of trees to achieve long-term CO2 sequestration on formerly degraded lands in low-income tropical communities. In addition, the projects improve local livelihoods by providing ongoing income linked to tree survival and growth. This income reduces communities' vulnerability to crop failures and other shocks. The trees provide further benefits by helping to reduce soil erosion on agricultural lands, and by ultimately yielding fruits, seeds and other useful products for local farmers. These four projects will sequester over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 over the next ten years.

Financial support for improved household cooking technology in the Darfur region of Sudan. This project, managed by one of the UK’s leading sustainable development charities, helps to improve livelihoods in the Darfur region of Sudan - an area facing severe social dislocation and environmental degradation. Switching from solid fuels to gas dramatically reduces CO2 emissions, preserves the local natural resource base, reduces energy costs for poor households, and helps to reduce excess illness and death from indoor air pollution. This project will avoid emissions of nearly 200,000 tonnes of CO2 over its seven-year lifetime.

In addition to direct funding of projects, Carbon Clear contributes to the worldwide promotion and support of sustainable energy initiatives by participating in international networks that encourage the adoption of clean energy technologies. In particular, Carbon Clear is an active member of the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA), an initiative launched at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development; of the Global Village Energy Partnership (GVEP); and of the Household Energy and Development Network (HEDON).

Provide an information resource for practitioners and corporate champions

In 2007 Carbon Clear embarked on an initiative to help low-carbon champions within companies, government agencies and non-profit organisations access high quality emissions reduction advice. To that end, the company has formed a highly collaborative relationship with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA). IEMA is an organisation that supports the work of 12,500 environmental practitioners operating in 87 countries. In addition to participating in IEMA workshops and conferences, Carbon Clear is authoring a series of articles for the IEMA journal, offering emissions reduction guidance to corporate environmental staff. Furthermore, in 2007, Carbon Clear’s carbon reduction experts led over a dozen workshops and seminars on ways that companies can reduce their carbon footprints.

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