CarbonNeutral® Company

Climate change: the basics:

What is the greenhouse effect?

The greenhouse effect is a natural process that basically involves our atmosphere letting in some of the Sun's energy and trapping it there, stopping it from being released back out into space. This is how the Earth is kept warm enough for life. For several thousands of years the atmosphere kept itself balanced, but over the last century human activities, like burning fossil fuels coal, oil and gas to run our cars and factories and produce electricity, have led to an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing an enhanced greenhouse effect and increasing climate change.

What is climate change?

Climate change is the long-term change in average weather conditions, including temperature, precipitation and wind. It's probably the biggest long term environmental challenge the world faces. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the global climate is undergoing dramatic changes, such as higher temperatures, rising sea levels, increased ocean acidity and ice melt, as the direct result of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity.

Which gases are the main culprits?

One of the major causes of climate change is the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 is actually naturally present in the atmosphere; it works like a blanket, helping to maintain the Earth's temperature. But because of our modern way of life we are releasing greenhouse gases, CO2 in particular, in such large quantities that the blanket of gas around the globe is getting too thick causing temperatures to rise resulting in climate change. Levels have also increased due to the destruction of rainforests, which play an important role in absorbing CO2.

Human activities are increasing other greenhouse gases too, such as methane and nitrous oxide. However, they have not been released in such large quantities as CO2. So, although they do contribute significantly to climate change, it is man-made CO2 which is by far the greatest influence.

Flying and climate change

Each time we take a flight we burn fuel which of course emits CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. According to the United Nations' IPCC report, aviation accounts for around 2% of all human-produced carbon dioxide emissions while road transport generates 6 times as much and power generation and deforestation around 10 times as much.

At Outlook, we believe that our World is there to be explored, but it must be acknowledged that air travel has an environmental impact and we have a responsibility to take steps towards mitigating the emissions caused by our expeditions. We have chosen to do this by carbon offsetting our emissions through The CarbonNeutral Company.

Want more information?

Although we take an active interest in climate change and carbon offsetting, we are definitely not experts. If you want a little more information then these websites may be of interest to you:

• www.wakeupfreakout.org - the cartoon film on this site clearly lays out both the problem and suggests solutions to climate change.
• www.foe.co.uk - Friends of the Earth, one of the most influential environmental groups.
• www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange - Met Office: the UK's National Weather Service.
• www.energysavingtrust.org.uk - a non-profit organisation that provides free and impartial advice on how to stop wasting energy.

Carbon neutrality and offsetting:

What is CarbonNeutral®?

A company can be awarded CarbonNeutral® status by The CarbonNeutral Company when its carbon emissions are reduced to ‘net zero'. Unfortunately, being CarbonNeutral® doesn't mean that a company doesn't emit any carbon.  What being CarbonNeutral® means is that the amount of carbon a company has released through its actions has been reduced by internal actions and carbon offsetting. An example of a carbon offset project would be the installation of a hydro power station which would replace a coal power station in, let's say, China. The hydro power station will release less carbon in its lifetime than the coal power station - so the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere is reduced.

What is carbon offsetting?

How carbon offsetting works is that for every 1 tonne of carbon Outlook is responsible for producing, we pay for an equivalent 1 tonne of carbon to be saved through a project somewhere else in the world. It is important to note that carbon offsetting is not the complete answer. It will not stop global warming on its own, but it does help by either taking carbon out of the atmosphere or by speeding up the world's switch to technology which releases less carbon into the atmosphere - like renewable energy alternatives.

Who is The CarbonNeutral Company?

The CarbonNeutral Company is one of the world's leading carbon offset and carbon management businesses. They work with organisations to help them measure and reduce their carbon and then to offset any unavoidable emissions. They also source and assess carbon offset projects which use technology to promote a more sustainable future.

We took the decision to work with The CarbonNeutral Company because we know that their carbon contracts and carbon stocks are carefully managed according to a process known as The CarbonNeutral Protocol. The Protocol describes what a company must do to achieve the CarbonNeutral® brand mark; it also sets out the quality requirements for their carbon offset projects and schemes.

What do we offset?

Outlook Expeditions is a CarbonNeutral® company which means that we offset:

• Our energy use (e.g. electricity and gas)
• All of the flights of our staff, leaders and Link Teachers
• All in-country travel (buses, boats, car emissions and environmental impact) of our staff, leaders and Link Teachers
• In-country accommodation of our staff, leaders and Link Teachers
• Staff commutes to work
• Our Assembly and Parents' Evening Presentations (Outlook's travel to and from and the electrical power used  to run the presentation)
• Our Development Days (Outlook's travel to and from and the electrical power used to run presentations)
• Expedition Training (Outlook's travel to and from and the environmental impact of our groups on the ground)
• Final Preparation Day (Outlook's travel to and from and the electrical power used on site)
• Homecomings (Outlook's travel to and from and the electrical power used on site)

What we don't offset are the activities of our suppliers, the emissions caused by the transport and accommodation of our participants whilst on expedition and transport to and from related training courses.

Our decision not to offset our expedition participants' emissions was not made lightly. We considered loading the cost of all of our expeditions with the cost of the offset. However, we decided that the best way to give our participants a perspective of the emissions caused by travelling was to allow them to make the decision of whether or not to pay to offset their expedition themselves. There are so many debates surrounding carbon offsetting that it is only right that our participants are allowed to weigh up all the options and then make an informed decision that is based on their own opinions.

Our carbon offsetting projects

Our carbon offsetting projects are sourced by The CarbonNeutral Company. We are currently offsetting our emissions through Horizon, a portfolio of independently Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) from an 80/20 mix of resource conservation (such as energy efficiency, methane recovery and low carbon fuel switches) and renewable energy schemes (including projects which produce power from sources like wind, hydro, and biomass).

Our Carbon Calculator

Our participants can choose to make some or all of their expedition carbon neutral.  To do this, a participant or group must enter the details of their itinerary into a ‘carbon neutral' calculator. This calculator takes the information it is given, converts it into the amount of carbon produced and gives the financial cost of offsetting that carbon.  If the client or group wish to be carbon neutral they must then pay the cost of offsetting the carbon they will produce to the Outlook project or to one of their own choice. 

Outlook takes no profit from the Carbon Calculator. All of the proceeds raised through its use go to support projects that actually prevent more carbon being released in the first place - or help to minimise those emissions that are unavoidable. The amount of carbon released by your expedition will be counter-balanced by the amount of carbon saved by the CarbonNeutral® project that you have supported.

To access our carbon calculator click on Carbon Calculator.