Carbon Offsetting with BRCT

How to make a carbon offset

  1. Have a look around the BRCT website and make sure you are comfortable with our values, our approach, our vision and our systems. Follow the links on the right.
  2. Soon you'll be able to calculate the carbon cost of your activity using our helpful carbon emmission reduction calculator, but meanwhile you can:
  3. Make your contribution directly using our PayPal link.
  4. Once we have received confirmation of your contribution, you will be issued with a tax-deductible offset certificate. This step can take up to a fortnight to process.

The relationship

There are two parties involved. Firstly there is you, the sponsor, offsetting some or all of the carbon from your domestic or international flight or other carbon heavy activity. Secondly there is us, BRCT, a charitable trust engaged in delivering practical projects to mitigate or adapt to climate change. There is no middle-man in this arrangement. The relationship between YOU and BRCT is the subject of an informal agreement in which you purchase offsets in proportion to your consumption and need, and BRCT who oversees and records the process, and uses your offset to deliver additional climate change mitigation or adaptation activity in one or more areas. The key element is that the offset will enable delivery of activity above and beyond what it would usually be undertaken. 

Accountability and Transparency

 

Accountability and Transparency is provided through:

  • An offset payment, calculated using our helpful guide, accompanied by a tax deductible receipt/offset receipt.
  • Managed and audited accounts annually submitted to the Charities Commission, with clearly noted carbon offset contributions.
  • Annual reporting in our open publications and in particular, in our Annual Report, with particular attention to the quantity of additional climate change mitigation or adaptation activity enabled by the total of offset contributions.

Certification

BRCT DOES NOT subscribe to any independent certification scheme run by a third party. As a small charitable trust we do not believe that the amount of carbon offsets we receive will justify the level of overheads we would require to ensure third party verification.

Risk

There are currently no mandated standards regarding carbon offsets and carbon neutrality in New Zealand. However the NZ Commerce Commission has prepared "Guidelines for Carbon Claims" to set out best practice in carbon offsets to help consumers, charities and businesses. We work within these guidelines and aim to provide accurate and full information about carbon reduction and offset claims we make. We recommend you check out these guidelines to assess our claims as well. We do not insist on any fixed amount of carbon offset and accept consumer judgement on the level of offset required. We encourage you to learn more about what we do and how we go about things as we aim to put offsets to work in projects to give additional push to our actions and not be tied up in admin costs.