What is the case for carbon offsetting?

Prioritising emission reductions remains central to reducing climate impact.  To ensure real climate action, it is essential that we all become positive contributors to global net zero - acknowledging responsibility for historic and ongoing harmful impacts, becoming positive contributors to global efforts and funding climate action. 

Carbon credits serve as a tool to address unavoidable or historic emissions.  

For information about how businesses can take responsibility for their emissions and contribute to a net zero world refer to Gold Standard’s Climate Mitigation Framework:

• An initial framework for organisational climate mitigation strategies – a consolidated series of principles and criteria, which provides a credible framework for organisational climate mitigation strategies, set out in a series of principles and criteria. It also provides an outline of which criteria require further development support in terms of supporting tools and guidance, alongside what can still be meaningfully progressed now.
• Considerations for credible claims - supplementary input to organisations applying the framework, providing discussion, ideas, framing and ‘how to’ considerations.

When you purchase Gold Standard-certified carbon credits you are funding climate change projects. Projects that reduce carbon emissions AND create sustainable development benefits for the communities that need it most. 

Each Gold Standard Project has a verified contribution to at least three of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We quantify, certify, and maximise impacts toward climate security and sustainable development.

We are the only carbon market standard that is a member of the ISEAL Alliance, the leading membership body for governance in sustainability systems.  Our governance, including our approach to standards setting and assurance, is scrutinised independently and monitored in line with good practice.