The best intentions
We do everything possible to reduce our impact on the environment. For example, we use low-emission sea freight and fuel-efficient pallet haulage to transport our bags. We recycle everything we can and we buy recycled products whenever possible.
Even though jute absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows, it’s impossible for us to ship bags around the world without creating net emissions of greenhouse gases. We have to take responsibility for these, so we offset them.
Carbon offset – a load of hooey?
There are many companies that offer carbon offset schemes. Most employ a hotch-potch of long-term third world development schemes, expensive (and untested) carbon reduction technologies and programmes. They spend up to half of their income on marketing themselves and rewarding the army of consultants who work for them.
Some of the best known carbon offset schemes are in fact owned by merchant bankers for whom they are just another financial instrument contributing to the bottom line. Among these are Climate Care, a subsidiary of investment bankers JPMorgan Chase & Co. We say: never trust a banker, and even less so one who sees climate change as an investment opportunity.
You, us, Kyoto and the EU
Choosing Canby bags means you are helping to cut carbon emissions right now, right here – where we can make an immediate difference. Because immediate action is what is needed. We work closely with a not-for-profit offset provider called Equiclimate – one of just four endorsed by the UK government. This is how it works.
As part of the Kyoto Protocol the European Union (EU) has put a limit on the overall amount of greenhouse gases which heavy industry can emit. Large companies have an allocation of carbon credits which can be traded on the market — the so called Emissions Trading Scheme or ETS.
The trading system has created a healthy carbon market and has enabled Europe’s companies to save up to 100 million metric tons a year since 2005: an annual reduction of around 3.5 per cent. By 2020 the system will have cut emissions by at least 21 per cent.
Keeping it simple
We calculate our own emissions, then use Equiclimate buy carbon credits on the open market, then “retire” them, so that they are not available for use by polluters. In this way we remove CO2 from the pool available to European industry straight away. The system is straightforward, regulated at the highest level, verifiable and immediate.
Learn more about how we use the ETS.