Press release
03 December 2009
Ministry of the Environment
Government carbon offsetting
On Thursday, the Government approved a carbon offsetting scheme for 2009 for travel undertaken by politicians and employees at the Government Offices. This means that the Swedish Energy Agency will be tasked with calculating and purchasing emissions reductions equivalent to the emissions generated by travel undertaken by government officials.
"We will contribute compensation to offset climate change as a matter of course, until we can fly on the climate's terms. The Ministry of the Environment did so for the delegation to the climate summit in Bali as early as 2007, before we had had time to introduce carbon offsetting for the entire Government Offices, which is the case now," comments Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren.
This carbon offsetting scheme will be achieved through the purchase by the Swedish Energy Agency of Certified Emissions Reductions from the Clean Development Mechanism Project (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol. The project must be approved by the CDM Board, to ensure that they add to emissions reductions and are not a project that would have been implemented even without being part of the CDM. The Swedish Energy Agency will manage this, and ensure quality assurance throughout the process.
The objective is for aviation to bear its full environmental costs in the future. When this happens, there will be no need for special carbon offsetting.
Background
The Government Offices is a travel-intensive organisation. Two of the most common destinations are Brussels (EU) and New York (UN). Although telephones and video-conferences are used when possible, many meetings require personal attendance. The Government Offices' travel agency produces statistics of air miles and destinations. Estimates are then made for carbon offsetting based on distance and number of intermediate landings.
When travelling domestically, trains should primarily be chosen for short or medium-distance travel. With regard to taxi journeys, there is a framework agreement which means that these are carbon offset. The Swedish Government is one of the few governments in the world that pays climate compensation for travel in the course of duty.
Contact
Lennart BodénPress Secretary to Andreas Carlgren
Johanna Jansson
Desk Officer
+46 8405 16 90
+46 7303916 90
