Companies are under growing pressure to say something about their carbon footprint, and growing scrutiny when they do. Understanding the vocabulary is the first step to making claims that survive that scrutiny.
Offsetting
Carbon offsetting means compensating for your emissions by funding emission reductions or removals elsewhere, outside your own value chain. A typical example is paying for a tree-planting or renewable energy project and counting the saving against your own footprint.
Offsets can play a role, but they have drawn criticism: about whether the reductions are real, whether they would have happened anyway, whether they are permanent, and whether they distract from cutting emissions at source.
Insetting
Insetting means investing in emission reductions or removals within your own value chain. For a leather company, that might mean working with farms to cut emissions from livestock or feed, improving energy use in tanning, or supporting regenerative practices on the land that supplies the business.
Insetting tends to appeal because the benefits stay close to the product and the supply chain, and because the changes also build resilience. It is not automatically better, though. It faces the same questions about measurement and proof, and the term is still used in different ways by different organisations.
What makes a claim evidence-based
Whatever the approach, a claim that holds up usually has these features:
- **A measured baseline.** You cannot claim a reduction without knowing the starting point, which usually means an LCA or carbon footprint.
- **A recognised method.** Using standards such as ISO 14040/44 or ISO 14067 for product footprints makes your numbers comparable and checkable.
- **Clear boundaries.** Say exactly what is and is not included.
- **Honest wording.** “Carbon neutral” and “net zero” mean very different things. Claims should say what has been done, not imply more.
- **Independent review.** A critical review by someone outside the study adds credibility.
Reduce first
Most credible approaches put reducing your own emissions first, and treat offsetting or insetting as a complement rather than a substitute. A claim that rests entirely on buying credits is the one most likely to be challenged.
Where to start
Begin with data. Once you know where your emissions arise, it is far easier to choose where to act and what you can truthfully say.
If you would like help building the evidence behind a footprint claim, or having an existing one reviewed, get in touch.
By Authenticae. Back to the blog