Scientific consensus states that carbon emissions must be reduced by 80% by 2050 to avoid catastrophic climate change. We each have an important and essential role to play in meeting these targets and carbon offsetting enables us to do our part in an easy and effective way. A carbon offset represents a reduction in emissions somewhere else - like a renewable energy or reforestation project - to balance out the emissions you cannot reduce. Carbon offsets are the only way to get your carbon footprint to zero today.
Carbon offsets are quantified and sold in metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO²e). Buying one tonne of carbon offsets means there will be one less tonne of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there would otherwise have been. This could be due to, for example, a project to replace a diesel-fired power station with solar panels or the prevention of deforestation. Carbon offsetting is often the fastest way to achieve the deepest reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and it also often delivers added benefits at the project site, such as employment opportunities, community development programs and the protection of threatened ecosystems.
In order to ensure the quality and integrity of carbon offsets, a stringent program of standards, verification processes and registries have been put in place. For a carbon offset to be credible it must meet essential quality criteria, including proof that it is additional (the reduction in emissions would not have occurred without the carbon offsetting funds), that it will be retired from the carbon market so it cannot be double counted, and that it addresses issues such as permanence (it delivers the reductions it states) and leakage (the emission reduction in one area doesn’t cause an increase in emissions somewhere else).
There have been a few cases of carbon offsetting fraud in the past but now the field is more heavily regulated. Island Offsets validates all of our projects with the Voluntary Carbon Standard, a well-respected carbon program that provides “quality assurance for the world’s carbon market”. You can rest assured that your money is bringing credible and effective change to the climate change battle while providing local benefits to the Cayman Islands. 
