| PAS 2060:2010 – Specification for the demonstration of carbon neutrality |
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| Friday, 18 June 2010 14:43 |
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The British Standards Institute (BSI) recently published the PAS 2060:2010 - Specification for the demonstration of carbon neutrality. It should provide a common and consistent approach for the demonstration of carbon neutrality for organisations, products, events, buildings, towns, cities and services. PAS 2060 (PAS stands for publicly available specification) was developed by the BSI in consultation with a group of carbon offset providers such as the Carbon Neutral Company and companies including Aviva, UPM-Kymmene, Eurostar and Marks & Spencer. It aims to bring greater consistency, transparency and credibility to carbon neutrality claims. The new standard's appearance follows publication of government guidance on carbon neutrality in 2009. PAS 2060 can cover a wide range of claims, from companies that want to become carbon neutral to event organisers that want to make a conference carbon neutral. The standard provides guidance on how to quantify, reduce and offset greenhouse gas emissions. It also sets out how claims should be declared and validated. The standard requires organisations to make reductions in emissions for the subject of the claim. Simply offsetting emissions is not sufficient. The reductions must be made in either absolute terms (a cut in total emissions) or in terms of intensity (a cut in the ratio of emissions relative to a measure of output). Cuts in carbon intensity must be greater than economic growth for the region in which the organisation making the claim operates.
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