On Tuesday co2balance joined a roundtable hosted by the UK Fairtrade Foundation to discuss the opportunities and challenges of making and selling fairtrade carbon offset projects. The Fairtrade Foundation have signed an MOU with the Gold Standard Foundation to allow these proposed projects to use existing Gold Standard carbon certification with an additional fairtrade bolt on to certify the supply chain of the carbon offset. This added integrity will hopefully command a premium price on top of a regular Gold Standard project and, as with any other fairtrade certified product, a floor price for a fairly traded carbon offset will be imposed. This will ensure that producers of the carbon receive a fair reward for their efforts to combat climate change and it will also mean that project developers who assist them to tap into the carbon market will benefit.
Co2balance are keen to support this fledgling scheme and are looking to be one of the first project developers to road test a fairly traded carbon offset project by mid 2015. Stay tuned to our blog to see how we fare.