Belgrave Trust on Carbon Offsets for the Affluent

Photo by Elena Kalistratova
TH: Why do carbon offsets get such mixed reviews?
BT: The offset market is one of the most powerful ways to address climate change, and its benefits are often misunderstood. The most common argument is a false choice between purchasing carbon offsets versus advocating conservation. In reality, these are not mutually exclusive options. When an individual chooses to offset their footprint, they automatically see how their choices directly impact the environment. And by investing in alternative solutions through carbon offsets, the impact is greater than any one person's reductions because innovation and larger scale solutions are funded as a result. Essentially, we need to employ multiple solutions when it comes to climate change. With respect to the mixed reviews of specific carbon offset projects, it's true that not all projects are able deliver the same results. In order to guarantee our members that their carbon footprint is being managed, Belgrave Trust takes a "mutual fund" approach which requires an aggressive review and the highest verification standards for any projects in our portfolio.

TH: What are some of the goals for your company?
BT: Our mission centers around three objectives: First is to raise awareness about climate change and the need for carbon offsets. Second is customer satisfaction. We are a membership organization, and thus we are completely accountable to our members who can unsubscribe at any time. We strive for an exceptional level of service that includes helping members understand their carbon footprint and extends to managing their offset portfolio. We measure our success by our members' continued desire to live carbon neutral. And third, and most important, we measure success by the best metric there is -- how much greenhouse gas we help keep out of the atmosphere. Our primary goal is to put ourselves out of business, a goal we'll reach when emissions are reduced to ecologically sustainable levels and climate change is no longer the threat to our very existence.

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TH: Where do you see the carbon market going in 5 to 15 years?
BT: Markets tend to become more efficient over time, and we expect that in fifteen years the carbon markets will be extremely efficient at ferreting out effective ways to control greenhouse gases, and we'd hope and expect that some major technological breakthroughs will have yielded paradigm-changing solutions. But frankly, the problem is we don't have fifteen years, or even five, we need solutions yesterday. Our hope is that our approach accelerates the maturity of the market by bringing new buyers to the table and raising awareness.

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