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Carbon Offsets

Often carbon emissions cannot be avoided, and this is where carbon offsets come in.

Carbon Offsets are certificates - generated by environmental projects around the world that are cleaning up our atmosphere – that individuals and organizations could buy to reduce their carbon footprints. Carbon offsets enable you to compensate Scope 1 and Scope 3 fuels and natural gas emissions that cannot be reduced due to, for example, limitations in available technology or prohibitive costs of alternative energy. 

Why Choose Us?

Rules and methodologies for carbon offsets are gradually becoming stricter and more precise. We can help navigate the market and support your carbon offset journey. Also, benefit from the ability to purchase carbon offsets along with your purchase of fuel and natural gas from World Kinect.
 

Simplified procurement

Rules and methodologies for carbon offsets are gradually becoming stricter and more precise. We can help navigate the market and support your carbon offset journey. Also, benefit from the ability to purchase carbon offsets along with your purchase of fuel and natural gas from World Kinect.
 
Carbon offsetting is the most practical and very affordable way to neutralize your residual emissions and a much better alternative than doing nothing.
 

Cost-effective

Carbon offsetting is the most practical and very affordable way to neutralize your residual emissions and a much better alternative than doing nothing.
 
Offsets could be used as a bridging mechanism while your organization is working on reducing your emissions. You can offset the most current emissions or those from decades back.
 

Immediate & retroactive

Offsets could be used as a bridging mechanism while your organization is working on reducing your emissions. You can offset the most current emissions or those from decades back.
 
Many offset projects contribute to the improvement of life for people across the globe through access to clean energy, better health, education, and jobs. Leverage all available marketing materials from World Kinect’s global portfolio of carbon offset projects to promote your climate leadership to your stakeholders.
 

Enhanced brand value

Many offset projects contribute to the improvement of life for people across the globe through access to clean energy, better health, education, and jobs. Leverage all available marketing materials from World Kinect’s global portfolio of carbon offset projects to promote your climate leadership to your stakeholders.
 
We only provide offsets from the largest and most credible certification programs, like the Gold Standard, that have been in the carbon market for more than 15 years. A project registered under one of these standards has been through a rigorous verification and certification process.

Trusted projects

We only provide offsets from the largest and most credible certification programs, like the Gold Standard, that have been in the carbon market for more than 15 years. A project registered under one of these standards has been through a rigorous verification and certification process.

How it Works. Carbon Offsets

When emissions cannot be avoided, they can be offset so that their impact is neutralized by certificates generated from environmental projects such as planting trees or building wind farms. 
 

Carbon offsets come from various project types, including forestry, renewable energy (wind and solar), and waste-to-energy projects, among others.

To illustrate sample project types, here are some projects from which we have purchased carbon offsets to compensate for our own carbon footprint:
 

How to measure Carbon Offsets

Carbon offsets aim to compensate for CO2 and 5 other types of greenhouse gases emitted by fuel and natural gas by quantifying these 6 gases into one single metric measure called CO2 Equivalent (CO2E). Thus, offsets are measured in tones of CO2 equivalent, where 1 ton of carbon offset represents the removal of 1 ton of the 6 greenhouse gases.  If we know the volume, fuel grade, & natural gas type used, World Kinect can use approved calculation methods to measure your net emissions impact in CO2E and calculate the necessary offset volume to be purchased.
 
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Difference from RECs

Offsets are different from Renewable Energy Certificates or RECs. While World Kinect’s RECs (measured in MWh) enable you to reduce or eliminate Scope 2 emissions from electricity, offsets (measured in CO2E) enable you to compensate for Scope 1 and Scope 3 fuel and natural gas emissions that cannot be reduced today. 

 
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Option 1: Embedded Offset Certificates

You can choose to offset the exact amount of fuel and natural gas you purchase from World Kinect.  You’ll pay slightly more per unit measure of fuel/natural gas, with a proportion of the price going directly towards projects that compensate for the carbon impact of the commodity you’re using.
 

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Option 2: Standalone Offset Certificates

For fuel or natural gas that you do not buy directly from World Kinect, or if you would like to offset your past emissions, you can still purchase carbon offsets from World Kinect independently of your physical commodity purchases. For historical emissions, you could choose to offset emissions going back as far as the last month or decades.  
 
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How it Works. Carbon Offset Project Examples

Carbon offsets come from various project types, including forestry, renewable energy (wind and solar), and waste-to-energy projects, among others.

To illustrate sample project types, here are some projects from which we have purchased carbon offsets to compensate for our own carbon footprint:
 

How much do carbon offsets cost?

  • Carbon offsets typically only add an extra few pennies per commodity unit (e.g., per gallon of fuel), depending on the type of certificate-generating project chosen.
  • The most expensive project type is forestation in developed countries. The most affordable are international projects that support the developing world.

What sets our carbon offsets apart?

  • We only source carbon offsets that enable positive global change
  • Our Carbon Offsets come from projects that have been independently verified against international standards. These standards provide a methodology, independent verification process, and registry that ensures emission reductions are real, additional, permanent and unique. 
  • We source from standards such as:
  • Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)
  • Gold Standard
  • United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

Wind Power in India

The purpose of the project is to generate electricity using a renewable energy source (wind energy) and exporting the electricity to the regional grid system of India. The project is expected to replace anthropogenic GHG emissions of approximately 45,317 tCO2e per year, thereby displacing 47,829 MWh/year of electricity generated by traditional power plants connected to the Indian grid which are mainly thermal/ fossil fuel-based power plants. The carbon offsets from this project are “Gold Standard” certified. Gold Standard was established in 2003 by the World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund) and other international NGOs to ensure projects that reduced carbon emissions featured the highest levels of environmental integrity and contributed to sustainable development. India

 

 

Waste To Energy project in the US

waste to energy

 

The Waste to Energy project focuses on avoidance of landfill methane and displaced grid electrical generation from the installation of a new nominal 600-ton-per-day combustion unit at the Hillsborough County Resource Recovery Facility in Tampa, FL. Heat recovered from the combustion of municipal solid waste is used to generate electricity. The carbon offsets from this project are certified by Verra, an NGO founded in 2005 to drive greater quality assurance in voluntary carbon markets.

 

How it Works. Ensuring Your Offsets Actually Work
 

First Step

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You must prioritize in-house emission reduction. World Kinect always recommends first measure and reducing your carbon emissions to the extent that is economically feasible. Ways to reduce emissions include energy efficiency measures, sourcing renewable fuels and energy, improving operational processes, and so on.
 

 

Second Step

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For your residual emissions that cannot be reduced, offsets are a viable tool to combat climate change.  When you buy carbon offsets, make sure to buy offsets that are assessed by an independent third party and certified by one of the major standards. World Kinect only works with the largest and most credible standards, like Verra and the Gold Standard. These are developed by NGOs and have been in the carbon market for more than 15 years.

The carbon market has developed continuously during the past decades, and the rules and methodologies are gradually becoming stricter and more precise. As the market matures, it will continue to support liquidity and transparency. 

 

Standards To Look For

A project registered under one of these standards has been through a rigorous certification process:
  • The project must be developed in accordance with an approved methodology that is very technology specific, developed by sector experts, and subject to public hearings before it's approved.
  • An independent 3rd party must certify that the project is developed in accordance with the methodology and is eligible for registration. This certification involves an assessment of the project’s additionality - that the project would not have happened without being registered as a carbon offset project. It also certifies that the offsets from the project will only be counted once and that the project will not cause increased emissions elsewhere (“leakage”).
  • If the independent 3rd party certifies the project, it is submitted for registration to the chosen standard. The standard body will then perform its own approval process before the project is registered under the standard.
  • When the project has operated for a certain period, e.g., one year, an independent 3rd party must certify the emission reductions that have taken place because of the project. Only then the carbon offsets can be issued to the standard’s registry, which is publicly available.
  • Each carbon offset represents a reduction of one ton of CO2 and has a traceable serial number. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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