Darlington Council has approved investment in carbon offsetting projects, including purchasing credits to reduce the authority’s emissions to zero.
Last week, Darlington’s Cabinet endorsed measures to offset the council’s emissions as the authority ramped up its commitment to become carbon neutral by 2040.
According to an authority report, the council’s agreed trajectory requires a 40% reduction in carbon emissions every five years, equating to approximately 1,000 tonnes of carbon by 2040 that will need to be offset.
Carbon offsetting is a method of compensating for carbon footprint, achieved through projects that remove or avoid an equivalent amount of greenhouse gas emissions. However, offsetting emissions has received criticism as it can be perceived as a means of paying for others to absorb CO2 to compensate for one’s own emissions.
Speaking to Room151, councillor Chris McEwan, deputy leader of Darlington Borough Council and climate change lead, stated that “carbon offsetting is a key part” of the authority’s net zero delivery strategy, but Darlington is “concentrating our efforts on reducing our own carbon emissions”.
The report outlined several carbon offsetting measures, including technical solutions involving the authority’s land and the purchase of carbon credits in developing countries. The cost of these credits starts from £10 per tonne of CO2 emissions as a minimum.
There are associated “challenges” and “risks” when it comes to purchasing carbon credits, including political instability and the issue of additionality, the report warned.
However, the authority’s land is currently required for biodiversity net gain (BNG) requirements, according to the report, with Darlington not permitted to use the same projects for both BNG and carbon offsetting, a practice known as “stacking.”
Therefore, carbon credits must be considered as eligible projects for the council’s carbon offsetting efforts.
Nature-based investing
So far, the authority has invested in nature-based solutions for carbon removal, including planting over 20,000 trees in Darlington and protecting existing landscapes. “We’re working towards a more ambitious target of planting 100,000 trees by 2031,” McEwan added.
“Other carbon offset measures include wildflower meadows, improved wetlands, and nature areas, all of which we are developing alongside local partners,” he said.
McEwan also stated that Darlington has invested in other projects beyond offsetting to achieve net zero, including increasing its fleet of electric vehicles, converting street lighting to LED to reduce energy consumption, and trialling biofuel in the council’s refuse fleet to reduce emissions by around 50%.
“Since 2010/11, we have reduced our carbon footprint by more than 50%, from 13,101 to 6,190 tonnes in 2023/24,” McEwan said.
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