Some companies, due to the nature of their business have a much larger print than others - the challenge is to keep it as low as possible to collectively try to mitigate the effects of emissions on the environment. Unfortunately the two biggest sinners in this arena, Eskom and Sasol, albeit by the nature of their mandate, have given this country a bad name in environmental circles.
A carbon credit is a generic term for any tradable certificate representing the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide. This has the implication that companies in the developed world who are obliged to adhere to carbon restrictions may purchase credits from sources other than their own savings to balance their carbon credit book. Local companies with an excessive footprint may also purchase credits and can then claim to be carbon neutral.
To be able to claim carbon credits involves an arduous process and it becomes quite an investment to be recognized and registered by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They have accredited verification agencies that audit and certify emission savings and issue Voluntary Emission Reduction certificates (VER's) that is tradable.
City Sightseeing Cape Town recently decided to 'go green' and purchased sufficient credits to be able to proclaim themselves carbon neutral. This very environmentally friendly gesture says something about their management's approach to the longevity of the environment that they operate in. They make their living from generating a footprint, but they balance it by repaying their debt to the environment.
Claus Tworeck, CEO of City Sightseeing Cape Town thinks that although carbon emissions are a global concept, it makes more sense to buy your credits locally. Tworeck got his carbon credits from Reliance Compost - a company responsible for reducing the landfill space of Cape Town by more than 3.5 million m3 during the past 31 months through chipping and composting 95% of Cape Town's green garden waste.
Reliance creates a savings of approximately 70 000 credits (tons of CO2 emissions) annually and only use between 2 500 and 3 000 tons for own emissions, leaving 60 000 tons for sale to other green aspiring entities. "We prefer to sell to local entities - it brings the intrinsic value of green thinking closer to home. Our people can use the product of their garden rubbish in the form of certified organic compost to create a better environment and thus continue the circle of giving back to the earth what it gave us," says Reliance CEO Detlev Meyer.
