Carbon offsetting

[Zadock]

The problem is with environmentalisim it is an incredibly complex problem, without knowing an environmental 'cost' of any action, how do you know which is best?

Well in actual fact you can do a life-cycle/ cradle to grave analysis i.e. lots of research and statistics.

I'm an environmental consultant, carbon isn't really my thing though I'm more into impact assessment and ecology.

[TheAnimus]

If you accept that you are manafacturing something.

A completely hypothetical example:

How do you decide which type of paint to use? They all have their own advantages. There are even some hippy friendly biodegradable die types on the market now, but what if they fade? Will the effect of having to ship it back to the factory to be re-painted out way the cost of not using it in the first place.

I think its a hard job that you environmentalist consultants have to do

There are so many practical examples of this, i remember reading about cucumbers been wrapped in plastic extending their shelf life, and where do you grow them do you fly them from parts of the world that don't require greenhousing or heating, rather than growing them locally?

Modeling something as complex as that is surely very hard? In finance we always so there are no right models!

[Alex]

Fair enough - so the general consesus is "don't bother".

Maybe I'll just give the money to comic relief instead.

[Golden Dragoon]

My Car Insurance policy includes carbon offsetting (IBuyEco.co.uk) and they pay to offset the emissions based on my car and annual mileage. Was pretty much equal to the cheapest quote I got elsewhere too, I think it was about £10 more expensive (per year) than the cheapest so I went for it. Would I do it otherwise ? Doubt it.

Ditto, but for me it was the cheapest quote by far. not sure I would carbon offset otherwise, as it's not like my car is a massive polluter.