The Oxford Offsetting Principles are:
- Reduce your emissions first, use high quality compensation and regularly review the compensation strategy as the procedures and methods (best practices) used evolve.
- Shift from offsetting through carbon reduction to offsetting through carbon removal and storage.
- Shifting to high-quality, long-term storage with a low risk of reversal.
- Support research and development of methods and strategies aimed at carbon neutrality.
The Oxford Offsetting Principles prescribe certain best practices:
- Reduce your own emissions – Minimise the need for offsets in the first place.
- Ensure environmental integrity – Use offsets that are verifiable and can be properly accounted for and have a low risk of non-additionality, reversal, and creating negative impacts on people and the environment.
- Transparency – Disclose current emissions, accounting practices, goals for achieving carbon neutrality, as well as the type of offsets you use.
Visit the website of the University of Oxford to read more about the Oxford Offsetting Principles
