- Climate Care
-
Climate Care 
Type Private Industry Green Founded 1997 Founder(s) Mike Mason Headquarters Oxford, United Kingdom Number of locations 4 (United Kingdom, Chile, Kenya, Turkey) Area served Worldwide Products Carbon offsets Website jpmorganclimatecare.com Climate Care is a UK-based carbon offset company founded by eco-entrepreneur Mike Mason in 1997. The idea came following a Masters in Environmental Change and Management[1] at the Oxford University Environmental Change Institute[2], where he explored the potential of carbon funding for protecting endangered habitats.
Climate Care is now a part of JPMorgan Chase's Environmental Markets business[3], though its head office remains in Oxford, England. They also have satellite offices in countries around the world including Nairobi, Kenya; Ankara, Turkey; and Santiago, Chile. On 24 August 2007, Climate Care announced that it had successfully delivered its first million tonnes of greenhouse gas emission reductions.[4]
Contents
History
ClimateCare is one of the world's first and largest organisations in originating, development and retail of voluntary carbon emission reductions.
ClimateCare manages emission reduction projects across the developing world using low carbon and energy efficiency technologies to drive sustainable development.
On 26 March, 2008, JPMorgan Chase announced the acquisition of Climate Care.
Carbon offsetting
ClimateCare funds projects all over the world, particularly in developing countries, which produce verified reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and have associated social or environmental benefits for the local communities. They gain this funding by selling the greenhouse gas emission reductions to businesses and individuals. Often, but not always, these emission reductions are purchased by individuals and organisations in order to compensate for their own emissions - a process known as carbon offsetting. ClimateCare encourages offsetting as one part of a strategy for reducing emissions, to take responsibility for emissions that cannot yet be eliminated at source.[5]
Controversy
See also: Carbon_offset#ControversiesThere is some controversy about whether carbon offsetting encourages more emissions from individuals in developed countries by believing that it relieves them of guilt[6] or whether it encourages them to become further interested in reducing their carbon footprint.[7][8] Carbon offset schemes have received criticism from some for their lack of regulation and perceived effectiveness. Some have criticised the use of carbon offsetting by certain businesses as an example of ‘greenwash’.[9]
In their report on the Voluntary Carbon Market, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee concluded that research was needed on “what exactly encourages people to reduce their emissions” and the role that carbon offsetting could play in this. Regarding the evidence submitted to their enquiry they stated that “we found little substantial evidence to support the view that offsetting encourages ethical carelessness.”[10]
Greenhouse gas emission reduction projects
ClimateCare funds many projects around the world mainly in developing countries with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting sustainable development in these countries. ClimateCare has delivered over one million tonnes worth of greenhouse gas emission reductions to date through projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, methane capture and forestry.[4] Projects are found and put through a set of principles to determine whether they are suitable[11] and are then submitted to various independent standards to ensure accuracy, additionality and verification that emissions reductions are achieved. Standards for carbon offsetting include the Gold Standard[12], developed by charities such as WWF, and the Voluntary Carbon Standard developed by The Climate Group.
Examples of greenhouse gas emission reduction projects
Treadle pumps in North India
A treadle pump in action.
Climate Care funds the International Development Enterprise India (IDEI) in promoting foot powered ‘treadle’ water pumps in India. This project won the Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy for Enterprise in 2006.[13] The pump allows farmers with small landholdings to substantially increase the amount and variety of their crop production.[14] A research study by the International Water Management Institute found that for families who bought a pump, their income increased on average by Rs 4,100 per year from a pump costing about Rs 1200. A typical farm income in this region is typically about Rs 7,000 per year.[15]
Each treadle pump reduces greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 0.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. The emissions reductions are being accredited under the Voluntary Gold Standard[16]
The project has come in for criticism from The Times[17] including accusations of negative impacts on children. Climate Care responded[18] by citing an independent report assessing the impacts of the treadle pump on children, which concluded that "the welfare benefits of the pump extend in large part to the children"[19], whilst a UN Human Development Report of 2006 described the treadle pump as a ‘cheap and affordable technology….[which] when combined with market-oriented production, their potential for poverty alleviation is great’.[20] The project won the Ashden Award for Sustainable energy under Health and Welfare in 2006.[21] [22]
Clients
ClimateCare works with a significant variety and number of organisations.[23]
In 2007 ClimateCare offset all three of the major UK political parties’ conferences Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats.[24] They also offset for HRH Prince Charles and the leading sustainable development charity Forum for the Future.
ClimateCare also works with large corporations such as Land Rover, Aviva, Powergen, Co-operative Bank, Interface Flor, First Choice and lastminute.com.
Further reading
- Clean Air-Cool Earth, A Consumer's Guide to Retail Carbon Offsets[25]
References
- ^ http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/teaching/msc/
- ^ http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/teaching/msc/
- ^ http://www.jpmorgan.com/pages/jpmorgan/investbk/solutions/commodities/environmental
- ^ a b Climate Care delivers 1 million tonnes! :: Climate Care
- ^ CC Report 06
- ^ Monbiot, George, Heat; How to stop the planet burning
- ^ The Voluntary Carbon Offset Market, report by The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee
- ^ Sustainable Consumption Round Table, I Will if You Will
- ^ Friends of the Earth: Press Releases: : CARBON OFF-SETTING
- ^ The Voluntary Carbon Offset Market, report by The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, p.14
- ^ project principles :: project types :: Climate Care
- ^ WWF - Gold Standard
- ^ Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy for Enterprise
- ^ Treadle Pump Report by the IDEI
- ^ Pedaling out of Poverty: Social Impact of a Manual Irrigation Technology in South Asia by Shah et al., 2000
- ^ project types :: Climate Care
- ^ "To cancel out the CO2 of a return flight to India, it will take one poor villager three years of pumping water by foot. So is carbon offsetting the best way to ease your conscience?" by Dominic Kennedy and Ashling O’Connor for The Times, August 28, 2007
- ^ Benefiting farmers and their families - truth about treadle pumps :: Climate Care
- ^ Microsoft Word - 20070626 TP & Children Report.doc
- ^ HDR 2006 - Human Development Report Office
- ^ Case Study | GIRA, Mexico, | The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy
- ^ Is carbon-offsetting just eco-enslavement? | spiked
- ^ [1]
- ^ Parties attempt to reduce hot air generated by their conferences - Times Online
- ^ http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/ConsumersGuidetoCarbonOffsets.pdf
External links
- Official website
- Responding to Climate Change Climate Change organisation.
Categories:- Companies of the United Kingdom
- Companies established in 1997
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
