National Geographic purchases Plan Vivo offsets

Ecosystem Marketplace has just published a case study about the use of forest carbon offsets by National Geographic. Offsets from Carbon Tanzania's Yaeda Valley REDD project are purchased as part of the organisation's strategy to reduce operational emissions. The Yaeda Valley project, certified by Plan Vivo, is one of the agroforestry projects within ZeroMission's portfolio.

National Geographic’s Chief Sustainability Officer Hans Wegner, based in Washington, is quoted as saying: “We feel [carbon offsets] are a viable way to deal with those emissions we cannot eliminate in our operations. So long as they are third-party certified, audited and properly accounted for, we consider them an important tool.”

National Geographic has been gradually reducing consumption of electricity, water and gas within operations over the last ten years and uses carbon offsets when no alternatives for internal emission reductions can be found. The offsets from the Yaeda Valley REDD project are used to offset emissions from adventure travel operations.

Forestry carbon offsets are chosen for their co-benefits – National Geographic is willing to pay a premium for offsets from projects that both sequester forest carbon and expand habitats for threatened species. Specific projects are carefully chosen and required to send documentation to Deloitte for auditing.