Alongside the obvious benefit of reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, there are increasingly additional wider benefits to offsetting your carbon. Many of the offset projects offered in our store are now aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

These 17 goals outline global challenges faced by all, in areas such as poverty, inequality, climate change and environmental degradation. You can view the graphic below to see all 17 goals.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Wider Benefits

Some of the most fascinating research on this subject we have seen is from Gold Standard, one of the major suppliers of carbon offset credits which we source from.

They have conducted market research on the wider financial benefits of carbon offset credits, the results of which can be seen in the chart below.

The above graphic shows the monetary impact value of different types of Gold Standard projects per tonne of CO₂ offset. You can see that for a project such as a clean cookstove replacement, the wider benefits beyond carbon reductions are more pronounced, providing a total wider monetary benefit of $267 per tonne of CO₂ offset.

This is due to the extensive impacts these projects can have upon the livelihoods and health of vulnerable communities. Circular Ecology offer a variety of types of offset projects such as reforestation, clean and safe water, renewable energy and clean cookstoves, each listing the UN Sustainable Development Goals that they target.

The following list gives examples of the types of wider benefits that can be derived from carbon offset projects:

• Reduction of carbon emissions in the atmosphere through renewable energy
• Tackling deforestation in local areas
• Better community health due to improved air quality
• Local employment during the construction stage of the project and often afterwards
• Local training to manufacture, distribute, install and maintain the cookstoves
• Community education to understand the problems caused by deforestation
• Provision of clean drinking water infrastructure to the community at the project site
• Creation of habitats for endangered species
• Increase in food security for the local area
• Provision of clean water to communities
• Female empowerment: Improved safety and saving time

You can read more about the wider benefits of the Gold Standard offsetting projects here or visit our store to see what offset projects we support.

Tree Planting & Supporting Good Causes

Circular Ecology are an official partner of the Eden Reforestation Projects and will plant 4 trees per tonne of CO₂e offset. You can read more about the benefits of tree planting here.

Alongside our tree planting, we also commit to diverting £1 per tonne of CO₂e from every sale to support the release of free data, tools and resources.