Carbon Offsetting – making the countryside cleaner and greener

Reduced carbon emissions are seen as a key way of making our environments greener. The COP26 climate change conference cemented our need for both carbon offsetting and carbon removal. The carbon offsetting industry used to be a minefield of unknowns, but new regulations and initiatives have made it more user-friendly and accessible. And farming is seen as having an important role to play in carbon capture.

What is Carbon Offsetting?

Carbon Offsetting involves buying carbon credits, in exchange for emitting the equivalent tonnes of carbon dioxide. Often companies using the funds generated by the credits make a commitment to removing the equivalent emissions through a variety of projects and schemes. These can include initiatives such as forest protection, regeneration, tree planting and carbon capture in a variety of locations.

In the past few years, there have been issues with the carbon offset market, as it was largely unregulated and underdeveloped. This led to potential for dishonest dealing and a lack of security in the funds delivered into the schemes. Nowadays there are strict parameters that apply to the regulation of credits – the removal of carbon dioxide must be measurable, permanent and independently verified. It is obvious from evidence that the market for offsetting has increased dramatically, especially with worldwide campaigns from charities such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which is an international non-governmental organisation, at the forefront of carbon offsetting information and initiatives.

An environmental balancing act

Carbon offsetting is seen as a positive step in the right direction by many people and UK farmland has the potential to play an important role in carbon capture. In these days of diversification, initiatives such as rewilding and reforesting are a welcome alternative income stream for farmers. From planting swathes of trees across dormant land, to reintroducing beavers to the UK, there have been a multitude of ways to create natural environments on farms and farmland estates across the UK. If you’d think you might be interested of learning more about carbon initiatives and how you and your land can help, then get in touch with one of our land management experts today.