How To Move Towards Carbon Insetting

Many of us know about carbon offsetting, and how it can help businesses address the carbon emissions they do offset in a fruitful way. But paying for calculated offsets doesn’t actually change the company’s production of carbon, and in the long run, the carbon-producing factors of the company can eventually override the benefits of carbon offsetting. This is where carbon insetting comes in. The process of changing a business’s practice to reduce carbon emissions with a more direct circle of influence. What does that look like? Here’s one way to think about carbon insetting, and how to become more sustainable and introduce practices in line with the carbon insetting philosophy.

One thing we might recognize in every office that can be reduced is paper. We all know that creating paper involves lots of trees, and the production of pure paper has great environmental consequences. If for example your business requires a lot of paper use as part of its service–whether it’s for invoices, labels, packaging, and the like–recycling solves one component to reducing your carbon footprint. And in a typical carbon offsetting practice, paying a non-profit to plant more trees across the world seems to eliminate the waste from the bigger picture.

In contrast, you company can practice carbon insetting in this scenario by instead looking at where their supply chain affects your community, then supporting that community in a big way. For example, this paper-reliant company can look for a local supplier that produces 100%-post consumer paper, or a local paper mill that supports reforesting and land conservation in the state. This can draw connected businesses to work together and improve the environment in an improved fashion.

Insetting can also be applied to the staff. For example, Cisco Systems offers employees cheap solar power as an employee benefit. Though it doesn’t change the business directly, that support helps the local environment through employees’ homes. NASA, in comparison, offers free electric car charging to employees to help reduce their carbon emissions to work. Other common insetting practices might include a better carpooling system or free public transportation passes to employees.

Overall, carbon insetting involves internal changes that affect important components of your business. Together, both carbon offsetting and insetting has its pros and cons, but together, they can help improve your business’s CSR.