Can carbon offsets deliver positive change in the North East region?
This four day sprint will be taking place at Newcastle Racecourse. To achieve net zero, we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, and then balance any remaining emissions with an equivalent amount of carbon removal.
Organisations around the world have been purchasing carbon offsets to try to achieve this balance. The most common type of offset is tree planting, but a seedling planted isn’t a guarantee of longer-term carbon sequestration, and offsetting projects are often in another country to the one in which the organisation operates.
So, what if there was a way to build confidence in purchasing carbon offsets across a range of different initiatives? What if we could encourage organisations to invest in projects which impact the region in which they region live and work? What if those projects weren’t just focused on carbon savings, but delivered multiple co-benefits too, such as flood defences, or community energy projects?
This is a four-day sprint is, taking place at Newcastle Racecourse, at which we want to bring as many different perspectives together as possible to help us understand if a regional carbon offsetting approach is achievable in the North East.
You might be interested as a potential purchaser of carbon credits or are delivering a project which could be funded through this process. Or you might be able to offer your technology or data skills to help us understand how we can achieve this effectively. Whatever your interest, your opinion matters to us!