The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Carbon Offsets
Not all carbon offsets are created equal, learn how to navigate the messy soup of carbon offsets types
TL;DR
Can carbon offsets actually help us in our fight against climate change? And are all types of carbon offsets equally important? Let’s dive into the different types of carbon offsets and why we need to focus on each one to achieve our carbon reduction goals.
The carbon offsets hierarchy includes avoiding, reducing, and removing CO2 emissions.
CarbonTech and carbon utilization companies are adopting creative and innovative ways to recycle captured C02 into climate-friendly products and services.
How can your business start? Research and learn about different carbon offset projects, categorize current practices across the hierarchy, and plan to contribute to all three offsets.
Support for climate change commitments continues to grow among large enterprises and Fortune 500 companies, with corporations like Microsoft, publicly declaring their commitment to reducing or eliminating their carbon footprint.
But how does an organization begin consciously and effectively offsetting its carbon footprint? That is where the carbon offsetting hierarchy comes in — or, what I like to call, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Carbon Offsets.
What Does the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Carbon Offsets Look Like?
Maslow’s hierarchy of carbon offsets helps us understand the importance of each step within the carbon mitigation process. It shows us that not one but all three types of offsets are equally important in our battle against climate change.
This carbon offsetting framework looks at the three different ways an organization or individual can reduce their own carbon footprint as well as aid efforts in reducing CO2 emissions around the world. But more importantly, the framework, much like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, requires companies to approach offsetting in a specific order:
Avoid emissions
Reduce emissions
Remove CO2
Let’s look at each step in more detail to see how much an organization can do to support climate relief efforts.
Not All Carbon Offsets Efforts are Created Equally
While eliminating excess greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is the ultimate goal, it will be easier for some organizations than others. With our dependence on certain technologies, we might not be able to offset our CO2 emissions entirely, which is why removal is a crucial part of this framework.
Even though carbon offsets play a vital role in reducing CO2 emissions, they are not considered an ultimate fix for our climate change issues. They are a near-to-medium term solution for reductions that are difficult and, at times, impossible to achieve.
Thankfully, there are a few different ways that we can start to support CO2 reduction efforts:
1. An Avoided Emission Offset
An avoided emission offset is when an organization actively avoids emitting GHGs and, in the process, accelerates decarbonization. In other words, an organization takes measures to avoid creating impacts from the outset by preventing its release into the atmosphere.
Examples of an avoided emission offset include:
Stopping the conversion of grasslands to croplands
Limiting timber harvest levels
Walking or riding bikes
Fuel-saving tires
Low-temperature detergents
Taking clear steps to avoid emissions can help reduce the release of carbon and GHG into the atmosphere and slow the pace of the worst effects of climate change.
2. A Reduced Emission Offset
A reduced emission offset occurs when measures are taken to reduce the intensity of impacts that cannot be avoided entirely.
Examples of reduced emission offsets include:
Switching to cleaner vehicles
Improving energy efficiency in the workplace, warehouses, and other buildings
Switching to renewable energy
With reduced emissions, you may not see an impact on site, but you still reduce your contribution to CO2 emissions. For example, the lockdowns that resulted from the pandemic led to a sharp decline in CO2 emissions globally. Although this may not last long, with the world starting back up, there is a lesson here about how we can begin to reduce emissions collectively.
It is also important to call out that organizations should reduce their carbon footprint before they can buy offsets in the market. This is to prevent shortcuts and encourage true, sustainable change.
3. A Carbon Removal Offset
Carbon removal is the process of capturing or removing CO2 from the atmosphere and locking it away or destroying it. Technologies used for carbon removal are called negative emissions technology (NETs). Removing carbon from the atmosphere can slow and even reverse climate change. But since it acts slowly, it should not be considered an alternative to cutting GHG emissions. Similarly, capturing and storing other GHGs is known as greenhouse gas removal.
Examples of carbon removal offsets include:
Planting new forests (Nature-Based Solutions or NBS)
Developing machines to suck out CO2 from the air (Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage or DACCS)
Capturing CO2 from biofuels and bioenergy plants (Bio-Energy Carbon Capture and Storage or BECCS)
Carbon removal plays an effective role in reducing our carbon footprint. And, when paired with other emission reductions, can help us achieve net-zero emissions, where we remove one ton of CO2 for every ton we emit. And by continuing this process, we could potentially lower our atmospheric CO2 levels over time.
However, it is essential to note that the carbon removal process is a slow-acting and nascent technology, which means that we cannot rely on it alone or substitute it for other offsetting methods. Thus, carbon offsets must be seen as a complementary step, not the only step corporations must take.
While these are the main carbon offset projects available, part of the problem is that there are no clear standards. This makes it difficult for carbon offset buyers to distinguish and decide between avoided offsets, reduced offsets, and removal offsets.
To help carbon buyers understand the process better, we need clear regulations and education. This will help them understand how to buy carbon offsets and what kind of impact their actions will make.
If you’re interested in learning more about how corporations tackle carbon removal offsets, check out my three-part series on Microsoft’s commitment to going carbon negative by 2030.
What Happens if We Don’t Invest in All Offsets, Especially Carbon Removal?
We must embrace avenues other than just CarbonTech, such as reforestation, clean energy, ocean-based methods, clean stove cooking, and so on, if we’re to make a difference both now and in the not-so-distant future.
Not sure why we can’t just plant more trees? While great for biodiversity, consider these stats about forestry carbon removal efforts:
A mature tree absorbs CO2 at a rate of 48 pounds per year, while an acre of forest can absorb twice the CO2 produced by an average car’s annual mileage. (Ten Million Trees)
Reforestation needs decades of growth and maintenance to leave a mark. (Undark)
An average tree’s life lasts between 50 to 75 years, but can easily be cut short with growing occurrences of wildfires.
If we only relied on reforestation, we’d need decades of work before we see its effects. But if we had other methods working in tandem, we’d be able to reach our goals more quickly and more effectively.
The bottom line is that no one method should be substituted for another.
Why Can’t We Just Focus on CarbonTech?
CarbonTech or carbon utilization is a broad term describing the different ways captured carbon oxides can be recycled to produce economic products and services. Some promising CarbonTech and carbon utilization companies looking for new and improved ways to create products include:
Blue Planet — captures CO2 and uses it as raw material to treat other materials.
CCm Technologies — focuses on capturing carbon for fertilization and plastics.
Carbon Upcycling Technologies — pressurizes and treats captured carbon for creating concrete and plastic.
DyeCoo — uses reclaimed CO2 to dye textiles and reduce CO2 emissions within the textile industry.
AGG Biofuel — converts CO2 into syngas for transportation fuel and power and heat generation.
Breathe Applied Sciences — creates green, low-cost methanol from CO2.
Carbicrete — helps manufacturers produce cement-free, carbon-negative cement.
You can learn more about the top players in the carbon capture and utilization space on the Carbon Utilization Alliance website.
CarbonTech, while advanced and necessary, can be cost-prohibitive and not easily accessible. Many CarbonTech initiatives require time and intensive research before they can mass produce products and services. This means it may take time before we have more CarbonTech companies helping us reduce our emissions.
This is where other carbon offset projects — such as reforestation, energy efficiency, etc. — contribute to the cause. That’s why we need to focus on all three tiers of this carbon offsetting hierarchy. They complement each other and move us closer to attaining our carbon goals.
What Carbon Offsets Should Business Leaders Focus on?
Without clear regulations and definitions, it can be hard to decide which carbon offsets your business needs to focus on and which ones you can actually achieve. This requires quite a bit of research and a good understanding of both your company’s carbon emission profile the carbon offset market.
For example, Shopify’s sustainability team spent a great deal of time and research identifying how they can contribute to carbon removal. The goal was not to only achieve carbon neutrality but go beyond and execute carbon removal. According to Shopify’s carbon removal playbook, to achieve a net-zero future, companies need to:
Fund the right types of climate solutions and look for long-term atmospheric carbon removal solutions.
Be flexible with purchases to maximize impact.
Run a solid process to identify the most promising companies.
So, what does that mean for your business? How do you start making a carbon offsetting plan?
Start by signing up for one of the GHG emission disclosure programs such as The Carbon Disclosure Project.
Set up a Science-Based Target Initiative (or SBTi)
Research and understand the different carbon offset options available to your business.
Categorize your current business practices and investments across the hierarchy.
Finally, plan to spread offsets across all three categories (a carbon accountant can help with this job, I’ll cover more on this in a separate post).
Climate change is an urgent issue and the sooner we get started, the better. There is a lot that goes into reducing our contribution to carbon and other GHG emissions. But we can start by educating ourselves with the many resources out there. And from there, we can create a plan and make our way to a reduced CO2 environment.
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