New government-backed charity Pure – The Clean Planet Trust claims it can reduce the cost of offsetting carbon emissions from flying and verify the cut in pollution.
Pure, which launched last week, will buy carbon credits traded in the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme, preventing them being used by heavy polluting industries.
It will also support environmentally clean projects certified by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The growing carbon-offset sector is currently unregulated, leading to fears that it is susceptible to incompetent or unscrupulous traders and that schemes will fail to make the reductions in greenhouse gas that they predict.
Pure is a registered charity, so donations will be subject to tax relief. It says the emissions of a return flight to Spain could be fully offset for £2.13 and a return to New York for £8.18.
Fund-raising head Phil Wolski said: “We’ll only deal in regulated credits. People will pay the correct price, set by EU governments, with the assurance of transparency. We believe we’re the first charity to be involved.”
Other carbon offset schemes are run by non-profit organisations or companies that cannot offer tax relief.
Wolski added: “If one in 50 people offset their short-haul flights, in a year it would cut emissions equal to those of a UK power station.”
Minister for climate change and the environment Ian Pearson welcomed the charity, which has the backing of business and former Confederation of British Industry director-general Adair Turner. Jed Jones, advisor to UK business at the Government’s Climate Change Projects Office, is a trustee.