Knowing carbon offsetting

Carbon offsetting is an activity that promotes compensation for GHG emissions after implementing self-mitigation through the various measures of organization operations/activities, or products/services or, events or, individuals.  This activity can be conducted by purchasing carbon credits to compensate the partial or total GHG emissions to demonstrate their carbon offset or carbon neutral, respectively.

Carbon offsetting is recognized as a new approach in conducting social responsibility and helping reduction of overall GHG emissions as well.  Accordingly, if the private sector increase their carbon credits purchasing for their social contribution, these efforts can generate demand and incentivize project developers in the supply side to initiate more GHG reduction projects.  Furthermore, expressing specific demand and purchasing carbon credits generated from community/city projects could increase community/city income and quality of life as well as promote sustainable development. Increasing industries’ social contribution through carbon offsetting could be one of the important approaches for Thailand in shifting towards a Low-carbon Society.

 

Types of carbon offsetting labels

There are two types of carbon offsetting labels under TGO’s Scheme, namely, the “Carbon Offset label” and the “Carbon Neutral label”

• The Carbon Offset label demonstrates a partial compensation of GHG emissions by purchasing carbon credits after self-mitigation through various measures involving the operation/activities of organizations, or products or, events or, individuals.
• The Carbon Neutral label demonstrates a total compensation of GHG emissions by purchasing carbon credits after self-mitigation through various measures involving the operation/activities of organizations, or products or, events or, individuals.   

 

Who can apply for carbon offsetting?

The Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (Public Organization) or TGO has initiated the Thailand Carbon Offsetting Program (T-COP) that aims to (1) promote carbon offsetting as a tool for applying the social responsibility concept among government, private and industrial sectors, (2) create a demand for carbon credits generated from the Thailand Voluntary Emission Reduction (T-VER) programme in order to drive the domestic carbon market, and (3) disseminate knowledge and understanding on carbon offsetting for organizations or products/services or, events or, individuals, to relevant stakeholders.  Apart from that, as one of the TGO initiatives, T-COP plays an important role in promoting and certifying carbon offsetting activities which applicable for the four target areas including,

• Individuals

Persons can quantify their GHG emissions based on daily life activities, conduct their carbon offsetting activities by purchasing carbon credits according to their quantified emissions, and be certified by the T-COP scheme.

• Organizations

Organizations can quantify the GHG emissions arising from their operations/activities, conduct their carbon offsetting activities by purchasing carbon credits, partial or as per  their entire quantified emissions, and be certified by the T-COP scheme.

• Products and services

GHG emissions of product/service units can be quantified through their life cycle stages including, material acquisition, production process, distribution, usage and waste management at its end of life as well as relevant transportation in each stage of the product life cycle, carbon offsetting activities can then be conducted by purchasing carbon credits equal to the quantified emissions, and be certified by the T-COP scheme.

• Conferences, seminars or events

Conferences, seminars or events (concerts, sporting events or others) can quantify GHG emissions arising from their operations, conduct their carbon offsetting activities by purchasing carbon credits equal to their quantified emissions, and be certified by the T-COP scheme.

 

First step of carbon offsetting - Quantification of GHG emissions

TGO has developed tools for quantifying GHG emissions as a basis for further carbon offsetting activities. T-COP’s target areas are individuals, organizations, products/services and events, details for which are provided as follows

1. For carbon offsetting for individuals, a mobile application, namely “CF calculator”, is provided to help calculating GHG emissions of daily life activities (in unit of tCO₂eq/year).  This application is available for both iOS and Android download via the following website:
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2. For carbon offsetting for organizations, the CFO quantification guidelines are provided to help quantifying the GHG emissions arising from an organization’s operations/activities (in tCO₂eq or kgCO₂eq) as a basis for further offsetting.  Any other CFO quantification standards or guidelines can be used based on TGO approval and endorsement.  The CFO quantification guidelinesare available for downloading at:
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3. For carbon offsetting for products and services, the requirements and guidelines for quantification of the carbon footprint of products and services are provided to help quantifying the GHG emissions of the product/service unit through its life cycle stages, including material acquisition, production process, distribution, usage and waste management at its end of life as well as relevant transportation in each stage in terms CO₂eq by weight as a basis for further offsetting.  The requirements and guidelines for quantification of the carbon footprint of products and services are available for downloading at:
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4. For carbon offsetting for conferences, seminars or events, a simplified calculation template (using Microsoft excel sheet) and a mobile application named “CF Event” are provided to help quantify GHG emissions arising from their operations/activities (in tCO₂eq ) as a basis for further offsetting.  The “CF Event” mobile application is available for both iOS and Android downloading via App store and Play Store.  And the simplified calculation template is available for downloading at:

           http://thaicarbonlabel.tgo.or.th/tools/files.php?mod=Wkc5M2JteHZZV1JmYjJabWMyVjBkR2x1Wnc9PQ&type=WDBaSlRFVlQ&files=TVRNPQ