Criticism of carbon offsetting plans risks being counter-productive: Chris Rea

However, criticism of the low ‘real world’ impact of existing offsetting schemes, however valid, is frequently used to support allegations that industry is simply ‘greenwashing’. This is at least unhelpful and may be counter-productive.

What action are business leaders meant to take if they are genuinely concerned about climate change? Official guidance is sparse and often contradictory, and political pressure in favour of doing nothing is vocal and growing.

AES Engineering Ltd group, including the AESSEAL and AVT Reliability businesses, is a global group dedicated to making industry work more cleanly and more reliability. As part of the Betterworld campaign we encourage businesses to prioritise investments that are environmentally friendly and are dedicating £29 million group-wide towards this aim by 2029.

We have achieved Net Zero, as audited by BSI in our direct and indirect emissions for several years. In 2021, once again validated by detailed BSI audits, we showed that our supply chain (Scope 3) emissions were significantly lower than the benefits in terms of reducing the carbon footprint of our customer base.

We are proud to be a Net Zero pioneer, but also respect the widespread concerns in the business community about what this process means. Is it widely understood? Are there reliable, universally acknowledged standards to aim for, which can motivate industry to clean up its act?

As a group, we have cut energy use and continue to audit and reduce every possible aspect of our own carbon footprint. We are pressurising suppliers and encouraging customers to do likewise. This is often neither easy nor popular.

We have invested millions in solar panels and battery storage, are directly preserving forest land (neither of which gets any Net Zero credit), and have invested over a £1 million to date in a solar farm in India, as our own – arguably more reliable - source of offsetting.

While the AES Engineering group remains a strong advocate of Net Zero for the planet, we acknowledge the dilemma for individual businesses trying to navigate this landscape.

It may be that some offsetting schemes, set up with official sanction, are guilty of poor science and lax regulatory oversight. Offsetting should never be seen as either an easy or cheap ‘get out of jail’ card and clearly we can’t afford to wait for the perfect, officially sanctioned solutions.

What should business leaders do? We need to lead. Take the climate crisis seriously, don’t let doubters paralyse you and concentrate on doing the right thing for your businesses, your communities and the planet.

Chris Rea is Managing Director of AES Engineering