The UK Government's Quality Assurance Scheme for Carbon Offsetting

What is being approved?

Offsets that meet the definition outlined below are eligible for approval under this Scheme. An approved offset has to meet all of the Scheme’s requirements including environmental integrity, calculation methodology and appropriate marketing and consumer information.

Definition of an offset

For the purposes of the scheme a carbon offset is defined as the use of carbon credits to balance the total emissions that result from a defined activity measured in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).

Carbon credits used to offset must represent a genuine, additional carbon saving.

What does not constitute a carbon offset under this Scheme

• The buying or purchasing and then cancelling of a volume of carbon credits in the absence of accurate calculation of emissions relating to a defined activity.
• Selling carbon credits to a third-party that has already calculated the tonnage of emissions it wishes to offset. In essence this is the sale of carbon credits as outlined in the case above.
• Buying and/or cancelling carbon credits associated with a product or service where calculated emissions associated with a specific activity are absent. For example, an organisation may offer to cancel a nominal amount of carbon for transaction or product or service sold, such as a financial product or flight. However, as the volume of carbon credits cancelled bears no relation to the emissions associated with the transaction, product or service it is not considered a carbon offset under this Scheme.