Carbon offsetting is where you take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in order to cancel out emissions you’ve generated. For example, a company might invest in planting trees (which absorb carbon dioxide) as a way of cancelling out their emissions from running their business. Or airlines might give you the option to pay a little extra to offset the carbon emissions from your flight.

But it’s not as straightforward as it may seem. Find out about the opportunities, complexities and challenges of carbon offsetting in this free webinar.

With the global focus on rapidly cutting emissions to net zero, offsetting has an important role to play in achieving that challenging ambition. Funding schemes like reforestation or renewable energy generation might appear to be a way to balance carbon budgets, but it’s vital to prioritise emission reductions first.

There are also legitimate questions about the ethics of offsetting. You’ve probably started to see more and more advertisements from companies making bold net zero claims – is offsetting being used as greenwashing? What are the impacts of offsetting schemes on local communities and nature? Do nature-based offsets have any real and lasting benefit – particularly if environmental actions might have happened anyway, or are not being managed for the long term?

With such a complex and challenging scenario, how can we all make the right choices? That’s what this webinar sets out to explore. You’ll learn about:

• Cumbria’s pathway to net zero emissions, and the potential for carbon sequestration by natural systems in Cumbria
• Responsible carbon management, prioritising emission reduction wherever possible
• Offsetting terminology such as net zero, carbon neutral and climate positive
• Different types of offsetting opportunities, and how they’re verified
• Examples of offsetting schemes both in Cumbria and beyond

The expert contributors include Small Word Consulting, Green Small Business, Carbon Footprint Ltd, and Cumbria Action for Sustainability.

This event is run by Cumbria Action for Sustainability as part of the National Lottery funded Zero Carbon Cumbria programme.

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