First discussed on Carbon Catablog a year ago, the UK government has finally launched its “Quality Assurance Scheme for Carbon Offsetting”.

A quality mark, shown alongside, can be used by offset providers to label specific carbon offsets that meet the government’s guidelines. (Our inclusion of the mark here is for informative purposes, and bears no relation to the offsets listed in Carbon Catalog.)

So what does the mark actually mean? We read the lengthy “Requirements and Procedures Document” (PDF) and can summarize the most important points for regular offset buyers:

• For now, only offsets certified under the UN’s Kyoto Protocol or the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme qualify. So in terms of project quality (additionality, leakage, measurement and so on), the mark piggybacks on existing guidelines and processes.

• The provider must settle any purchased offsets within a year, by cancelling carbon credits from the appropriate UN or EU scheme. In other words, providers can’t sit on your cash indefinitely, before finally getting round to buying the carbon credits you’ve paid them for.

• The calculation of CO2e volume emitted by certain activities (e.g. flying or driving) must use fixed conversion factors. This addresses a common source of confusion for offset buyers - different providers showing a different quantity of CO2e for the same flights or trips.

Providers pay a hefty fee, starting at £3,600, to apply for the scheme. They are approved (or not) by AEA Group, an environmental consultancy. All round, the UK looks to be using existing standards and players, rather than creating a large approval body of its own.

As of today, 4 UK providers (along with British Airways) have been accepted, meaning at least some of the offsets they’re selling are qualified. These are: Clear, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Passport and PURE. All 4 are already in our list of UK providers, mostly with excellent ratings. Visit the scheme’s website for an up-to-date list.

Since the quality assurance scheme is UK-specific, we’re not yet creating a separate category here at Carbon Catalog. But we do applaud the measure, and believe it will help UK offsetters feel confident about what they’re buying. With a bit of luck, US and other governments will shortly follow suit.