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frequently asked questions |
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| Who is Carbon Neutral Ltd? |
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Carbon Neutral is a not for profit company working with
hundreds of organisations and thousands of individuals to measure, reduce and
offset greenhouse gas emissions and implement revegetation projects. Formed by
Men of the Trees Inc (WA) in 2001 Carbon Neutral became a separately registered
company limited by guarantee in 2007. Our services include a Four Step Carbon
Reduction Programme and related carbon consultancy services, carbon calculators
and information on climate change, provision of carbon offsets, carbon sink
establishment and revegetation projects. Carbon Neutral partners with Men of
the Trees WA, Trees for Life in South Australia, and Landscape for Life in
Victoria. Together these organisations have contributed over 39 million native
trees to the Australian landscape over the past 30 years.
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| Where does Carbon Neutral operate? |
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Carbon Neutral’s head office is in Perth, Western Australia,
with representation and planting sites in South Australia with Trees for Life
and Victoria with Landscape for Life.
We work with organisational clients all over Australia and regularly
conduct work in Sydney and Melbourne and other cities in all states when
required.
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| Who are Carbon Neutral’s clients? |
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Carbon Neutral has clients from all over Australia and also
overseas, including individuals, households, businesses of all sizes including large
multi-national companies, utilites, mining companies, government bodies, local
government and community organisations.
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Can I make regular
donations?
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Yes, whether you are an organisation or an individual you
can have payments debited from your credit card, or a direct debit from your bank account monthly
or quarterly. Please ask our friendly staff to forward you a periodical payment
authority.
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How are donations to Carbon Neutral spent?
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Carbon Neutral
reports to the Register for Environmental Organisations on an annual basis as
to how the donations received are spent. For the July 08 -June 09 financial
year, donations received were spent as follows:
22% was
spent on administration and marketing, including :
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Salaries
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Management
- Rent
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Accounting, etc.
7% was
spent on protecting trees legally,
including:
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Salaries
- Fees
- Legal
Costs
1% was
spent on public environmental education, including:
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Website Costs
70% was
spent on fulfilling our constitutional objectives, including:
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Contractor Costs
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Seedlings
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Landowner Payments
- Obtaining
and acquitting VER's
Carbon Neutral management aims to ensure that 70% of
donations received continue to be spent on constitutional objectives.
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How does Carbon
Neutral help organisations and individuals calculate emissions?
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We provide carbon consultancy services and a Four Step
Carbon Reduction Programme for organisations to understand their carbon
footprint from a range of business areas. We do this in accordance with
international standards including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and ISO 14064
standards.
Carbon Neutral also provides an online emissions
calculator for organisations and individuals and an offline version for
organisations. An information paper is available as part of the calculator that
fully details all of the sources and assumptions behind the calculator. It
includes information from the Australian Government Department of Climate
Change, CSIRO, the IPCC (intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and many
other sources. It has been peer reviewed by the Carbon Reduction Institute and
can be found here: www.carbonneutral.com.au/calc
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| Do you apply any formally approved standards to
your planting projects? |
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Yes,
sites are established according to best practice and the Oil Mallee Code of Practice (WA only). Planting
establishment complies with international Kyoto standards,
please note the offset is projected over the lifetime of the site.
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| Is there a verification process? |
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Due to the Department of Climate Change’s Greenhouse
Friendly programme being terminated and with the imminent CPRS,
Carbon Neutral has not been able to continue with our application as an
accredited abatement provider. Additionally, applications for new abatement
projects have closed so Carbon Neutral will wait until information on a
prospective National Carbon Offset Standard and the CPRS is provided before
assessing the merits of pursuing verification of our planting sites.
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| What is the cost to offset 1 tonne of CO2e? |
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Organisations: $19 per tonne before 1st April 2010, $20 per tonne thereafter.
Individuals: $20 per tonne.
The price is the same for both tree planting and VERs. Please
see our latest Product Statement for full details.
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Does Carbon Neutral provide
accredited carbon offsets?
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Yes, we provide Greenhouse Friendly accredited offsets
for $19 per tonne before the 1st of April 2010, $20 per tonne thereafter from a third party project. We also commit to establish two trees or shrubs for
revegetation for each tonne.
We currently do not provide accredited offsets from our planting
projects. This is principally because we do not invest in the forests up front
and trade the carbon in the future after it is sequestered. We do, however, allow clients to contribute to
Carbon Neutral to plant trees to offset their emissions over time as the
forests grow. This gives satisfaction to clients that their contributions are
truly additional – i.e., the trees would not have been planted without their
donation.
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What should individuals
or organisations look for when choosing an offset provider?
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Some questions you should ask are:
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is the provider not for profit and acting in the best
interests of the environment?
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does the provider provide information, tools and services
to help you calculate and reduce emissions as well as offset?
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has the provider been working in the industry for a number
of years and built a trusted and recognised brand?
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does the provider provide a choice of offset types
including accredited offsets?
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does the provider also work to achieve multiple
environmental outcomes with their forest offsets e.g. biodiversity, salinity,
soil erosion
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can your provider guarantee there will be no double
selling or double counting within their offset projects?
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is the provider experienced and transparent about their
activities?
Carbon Neutral can answer ‘yes’ to all these questions and
that’s why we are a trusted and experienced environmental partner for hundreds
or organisations and thousands of individuals.
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Why should I work
with Carbon Neutral?
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Carbon Neutral is a long standing, award winning, not for
profit organisation. Our revegetation partners in WA, SA and VIC are highly
experience, ethical and credible. Funds donated to Carbon Neutral to offset
emissions or plant trees are tax deductible.
Our mission is simple: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
through education and revegetation. To achieve this we provide free carbon
calculators and information on reducing emissions, run a carbon reduction
programme for organisations and conduct seminars on the issue of carbon, and of
course we plant high quality biodiverse carbon sinks and revegetation sites.
Carbon Neutral received the Overall Winner Award at the 2007
Western Australian Environment Awards announced in November 2007. We also
received awards for Community Achievement – Community Group, and the Minister’s
Act Now Award.
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How many trees are
required to sequester 1 tonne of CO2?
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We currently plant an average of 6 trees per tonne. In the
350-450 mm rainfall area of WA, we estimate the number of trees required per
tonne of CO2 varies from 4 – 10 depending on location, species of tree, soil
type and type of planting. In other
sites, and in sites in the future, the number could be lower. If we could plant
karri trees in 1000mm rainfall areas, it could be more than 1 tonne of CO2 per
tree!
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| How do I know Carbon Neutral’s trees will remain healthy? |
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Seedlings are all planted according to the Carbon Neutral Charter and the Oil Mallee Code of Practice (WA only). All plantings are overseen by qualified Men of the Trees (MOTT) or Trees for Life (TFL) staff using either approved planting contractors or managed MOTT or TFL volunteers. Carbon Neutral ensures that infill plantings are
conducted as required during the first two years. All plantings are documented, managed and regularly monitored by qualified staff. |
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| How do I know that the CO2 will not be returned to the atmosphere if the plantings die or are cleared? |
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| All planting sites will have carbon rights and covenants registered to ensure that they remain under trees for at least 100 years. The requirement for the Department of Climate Change’s Greenhouse Friendly standard is 70 years and this is considered sufficient to ensure that the sites will remain under trees for perpetuity. Clearing or killing of the trees is forbidden by the carbon covenants. These are registered on the land title and remain for 100 years even if the property changes ownership. Carbon Neutral aims for at least 80% survival. In some cases, infill planting or re-planting will be done. Thereafter, annual monitoring is done. |
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| Isn’t CO2 returned to the atmosphere when trees are burned and when they die and decay? |
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| Yes, but this release is temporary. Fires happen naturally in native forests. The native tree species that Carbon Neutral plants are fire and drought tolerant and If burned they will rapidly re-sprout and return to an equilibrium for that community. As trees grow, they take in CO2 through their leaves from the atmosphere. The oxygen (O2) is given out by the leaves, back into the atmosphere. The carbon (C) is fixed in their roots, stems and branches and also in the soil as decayed litter and dead roots accumulate as humus. As trees die, they will be replaced by natural regeneration from seed or roots or, in the case of commercial plantations, infill planting or coppice. Eventually (after about 200 years for typical Australian hardwood forests), some CO2 is released back into the atmosphere as dead biomass that decays or is burned equals that taken up by living or regenerating trees. At this point the site has taken up its maximum possible amount of carbon and net uptake of CO2 ceases. |
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| What happens to the trees after the 100 year covenant expires? |
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| It is not possible to say with certainty what will happen, but the intention is for the sites to remain under trees for perpetuity. Only sites that the landholder wishes to remain under trees in perpetuity and that are strategically located according to a farm plan are planted. The carbon that has been sold to offset clients’ emissions is registered as being acquitted, so this amount of carbon from the sites cannot be sold in the future. |
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| Can I re-sell or on-sell my carbon offsets?
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No. In the case of trees, once the trees are planted, the
estimated amount of CO2 to be offset is registered as acquitted.
In the case of VERs, they are retired on your behalf with
the Australian Climate Exchange and the Department of Climate Change.
Your
contribution is not a tradable commodity
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| Are Carbon Neutral's carbon offsets tax deductible? |
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Yes. Carbon Neutral is a registered charitable institution and operates a deductible gift fund.
A receipt is issued with each donation in accordance with the requirements for a deductible gift fund. For further evidence of our tax status please visit the Australian Business Register. |
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| Why do some organizations price their carbon offsets per tree and others per tonne CO2? |
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Initially, some organizations sold trees as this was thought to be easier for clients to visualize than tonnes of CO2. However, in reality the number of trees per tonne of CO2 offset varies depending on the site they are planted on including factors such as climate, rainfall, species and soil type, so the only realistic way to price CO2 offsets is per tonne.
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What about the trees that Carbon Neutral offers for land rehabilitation?
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Some organisations wish to donate trees or shrubs to help the environment, rather than offset emissions. These trees are allocated to sites where they will provide multiple environmental benefits and sequestration is of secondary importance and may not be measured.
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| Why does Carbon Neutral have more than one type of planting? |
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Carbon Neutral will plant both biodiverse plantings and oil mallees. Either of these may also have significant additional environmental benefits, in addition to carbon sequestration outcomes.
For more information please refer to the Product Statement available online at www.carbonneutral.com.au or on request. |
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