Disparity in carbon-offsetting costs leads to confusion – 30 Aug 2007

According to research by Global Travel Market, the disparity in costs quoted by various carbon-offsetting companies working with the trade is doing more harm than good.

Dave Simmons, chief executive of the online travel search meta site operator, said carbon-offsetting companies’ online calculations of prices often differ greatly.

He said when comparing companies’ online calculations, prices to offset a medium-haul flight to Dubai can vary by as much as £7.15 from a lead-in price of £10.20, while offsetting a long-haul flight to Sydney can cost anything between £28.05 and £52.11.

Despite the fact that different offsetting companies use different calculations involving aircraft, air speeds and the weather as well as paying their own overheads, which would lead to some variations, the price differences are still too great, he said. These differences could confuse and put off consumers, he said.

“I understand there canbe some discrepancies, but the costs are so disproportionate compared with one another that they are beginning to lose credibility.

“Some companies even gave me the option to put a margin of my own in to the carbon payments and that hadn’t even crossed my mind.”

Simmons added that Global Travel Market uses Carbon Responsible, whose figures are backed by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs information, to run its own carbon offsetting.

David Wellington, managing director of carbon offsetting company climatecare.org, said the reason for the discrepancies in pricing is normally due to the difference in cost of the offsetting projects, for instance the difference between installing wind turbines or energy-efficient light bulbs, projects which the carbon-offsetting company is sponsoring.

He added: “There’s nothing cloak and dagger about it at all. To some people a carbon offsetting project is a carbon offsetting project but it doesn’t work like that at all.”