Voluntary Carbon Standard
Last month was a busy time for the voluntary carbon standard (VCS). Admittedly, it’s not a phrase that rolls smoothly off the tongue.
Like corporate social responsibility (CSR), you find yourself semi-exhausted before the next sentence.
You sense inherent good in each of these phrases – sure – but just want them to make sense in a realer world.
And so to the VCS.
Voluntary carbon offsetting is big business. In 2006, there was a huge surge in this market resulting in a 200% growth.
Big brands were, and are, getting into carbon offsetting in a big way. Google, Nike, Coca Cola, Yahoo! – all are now part of this market.
I don’t think it at all beneficial at this stage to analyse their reasons for announcing green credentials. Whether it really is genuine CSR or in each case a PR exercise is redundant. Don’t muddy the waters. They’re doing it.
So, yes, multinationals are offsetting their carbon within the voluntary sector. Good.
But what’s drawing them to the market? Two reasons.
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Firstly, innovation. As part of the Kyoto Protocol, a regulated carbon offsetting market was established. (As we are only too aware, the US refused to put pen to paper on this one.)
But this regulated market seemed to many to be a series of governmental red tapes.
So sprung up a voluntary carbon market. Fast, free, no bureaucratic shackles holding it back. Real cutting edge stuff. Sprightly in comparison to those sluggish government regulations.
Secondly. The relatively low transaction costs. There is no government jurisdiction and therefore far fewer overheads.
But this whole business is fraught with ambiguities. If you or I decide there really is no other option but to fly due to business, we might decide to offset our carbon emissions. So we voluntarily pay to offset. But where does that money go?
Time magazine rightly raised this question in the following article.
Carbon cowboys became a phrase that was bandied around. Perhaps people were making huge profits from our green consciences whilst our money did little for the environment. There was doubt. Perhaps it wasn’t worth paying good money if we had no idea of where it ended up.
It seemed evident that some regulations be brought into what is ironically an unregulated market.
And this is what Dr Anne-Marie Warris has worked on.
To voluntarily cap emissions, the buyer deserves to know their money caps emissions.
Simple.
The Voluntary Carbon Standard must now come into play.
