Let's Talk Carbon Offsets.

There's a good chance you are thinking about them wrong.

By Peak Design

April 22^nd, 2021

Getting right to the point: offsetting cannot be a dirty word if we are going to successfully bridge the gap between our globalized, fossil-fuel-based economy to the carbon-free economy of the future. Offsetting greenhouse gas emissions propels this transition forward, bringing about measurable reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions while companies continue to roll out carbon reduction technologies and techniques. Simply put, we need offsets if we are going to pull this off.

Quick refresher: The basic concept of a carbon offset is that an entity pays to have a tonne of greenhouse gases taken out of or kept from the atmosphere in an act of ‘offsetting’ a tonne of greenhouse gases that they have themselves emitted. It’s a concept that used to rub many of us at Peak the wrong way, but boy have we come around.

Offsets aren't perfect, they aren't an excuse to pollute freely, and they aren't a magic bullet. But they are a massively important tool that every business should have in their toolkit as they achieve total carbon neutrality as quickly as possible.

In 2019 we cofounded Climate Neutral, a nonprofit that helps businesses achieve carbon neutrality immediately within a repeatable, accountable, and transparent framework.

Today, Earth Day 2021, Climate Neutral certifies 230 different brands for their 2020 carbon reduction and offsetting efforts, collectively offsetting 700,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. These 230 brands, including Peak Design, have measured their total emissions (ALL of their supply chain), offset annually what they have emitted, and are constantly seeking new and innovative methods to reduce their emissions.

Oh and we aren’t talking about carbon neutrality for just some convenient parts of the business like the lights in the office or the air conditioning bill. This is total carbon neutrality, from the very beginning of the supply chain all the way to you, the end consumer. Scopes 1, 2, and 3.

BUT BUT BUT!

Come along as we address 5 of the most common criticisms we hear about offsetting.

1) You’re just paying someone else to clean up your mess!

You bet we are. We are paying experts in their fields, working on projects happening at scales we can barely fathom, to prevent the emission of greenhouse gases or sequester greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The money we spend every single year on offsets creates a financial incentive for us at Peak Design to emit less of those greenhouse gases in the first place.

We are constantly pursuing emission reductions in our entire supply chain specifically because we are paying someone to clean up our mess.

We pay experts to do things we can’t do all of the time (make aluminum alloy, steer the ship with our products on it, take out the trash once a week, oat milk lattes, etc). We absorb those costs into our business model or avoid them by reducing our need for that particular good or service. Carbon emissions must become a part of every brand’s operating expenses. Immediate neutrality doesn’t hamper a business’s hunger for a sustainable future. If anything, it puts the pedal down on finding a way to get there faster.

2) It lets polluters off the hook!

Climate Neutral Certification is only awarded if a company has measured their carbon footprint, offset it annually, and undertakes meaningful and ongoing emission reduction efforts within their own supply chain. The offsetting acts as a bridge mechanism while reduction technologies and techniques are rolled out. At the same time, the purchasing of offsets acts as a self-imposed carbon tax that incentives less polluting. Speaking for us here at Peak Design, we still feel very much ‘on the hook’ to continue dramatically reducing our carbon footprint.

3) Offsets aren’t perfect!

We know. That’s okay. With careful selection, it's entirely possible to create demand for high quality supply while squeezing out low quality projects, a vetting process that is baked into Climate Neutral's offsetting work. Plus, we encourage the widespread adoption of the unofficial Peak Design mantra: Perfect cannot be the enemy of progress. Offsetting needs to be happening on a scale an order of magnitude greater than what exists today to be a meaningful part of preventing climate catastrophe. That sort of massive change in offsetting capabilities must be driven in large part by demand from the private sector.

4) It’s too expensive!

So far, it’s not. From Climate Neutral’s executive director Austin Whitman:

'Most consumer goods companies are responsible for somewhere between 100 and 400 metric tonnes of carbon emissions for every one million dollars of revenues. This means that a company with $100 million of revenues probably has a carbon footprint around 30 or 40 thousand tonnes. If that company were subject to a carbon tax of $10 per tonne, its total bill would be $400,000 -- 0.4 percent of revenues. A carbon charge equal to the renewed social cost of carbon, $51, would equate to a charge of 2% of revenues. It’s not nothing, but when you consider that consumer brands spend more than 10% of revenues on marketing -- a number that reaches 24% for consumer packaged goods -- a carbon charge in the range of 0.5% of revenues seems quite reasonable. '

5) What about countries like India or China or ____, they pollute just as much or more than my country!

They certainly might! But follow the supply chain from power generation, material extraction, and manufacturing facilities to the brands and products driving these processes and much of that pollution. It’s often a company like Peak Design sitting comfortably at the end of the supply chain, a western brand selling its wares to consumers like you and I. Peak Design, like thousands of brands manufacturing overseas in the globalized economy, has both the moral responsibility and the margins on those manufactured goods to absorb the cost of offsetting their entire supply chain’s emissions and working to reduce that supply chain's emissions. Also worth noting is that moving manufacturing elsewhere does not guarantee less pollution.

Join Us

If there is only one thing your business does in seeking sustainability, make it carbon neutrality. If there are a ton of things your business does in seeking sustainability, make it carbon neutrality first. There is no climate solution without bold action by businesses, and total carbon neutrality is the new low bar for any responsibly run brand claiming sustainability bonafides. Learn more at climateneutral.org.