The UK Government's Quality Assurance Scheme for Carbon Offsetting

Background to the Quality Mark

The Quality Assurance Scheme is part of a wider government-led strategy to persuade everyone to reduce their CO2 emissions. In England this is done through the ACT ON CO2 campaign, which explains that measuring and reducing CO2 emissions are the first steps we should take.

The next step is to consider offsetting the remaining unavoidable emissions. So many companies offer offsetting schemes and products that it has become difficult for people to know what they’re buying. We’ve created the APPROVED CARBON OFFSETTING brand to use as an endorsement on offsets approved by the UK government.

We’re not badging offset providers, only the offsets they sell. That means a company can’t claim to be approved by the government, but it can claim to sell approved products. Where an offset provider sells offsets both with and without the quality mark, a clear distinction should be made between those offsets.

The Quality Mark

The Quality Mark helps consumers to identify approved offsets. For an offset to display the Quality Mark it must meet the requirements as set out in the Quality Assurance Scheme document. For more information click here.

How can the Quality Mark be used?

As a registered approval mark, there are strict rules for how the Quality Mark can be used. The quality mark can ONLY be used in association with offsets approved by this Scheme as outlined in the Quality Mark design guidelines. For more information click here.