Isra-Mart srl : Personal footprinting scheme slashes employees' carbon emissions

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Isra-Mart srl news:

Consultancy WSP Environment and Energy hails success of pioneering carbon trading initiative
A voluntary carbon allowance scheme has helped around 1,500 employees at green consultancy WSP Environment and Energy to cut their carbon footprints by an average of 10 per cent over the past year.

The programme, which echoes large-scale cap-and-trade schemes, sets staff an annual carbon allowance and tracks their performance against it. Those who come in under their allowance receive a bonus, while those exceeding the limit pay into a pot - both to a maximum of £100.
Staff who took part in 2009 and 2010 cut their annual emissions by an average of 0.5 tonnes of CO2, with average reductions reaching 10 per cent in 2010, according to WSP.

The company launched the Personal Allowance Carbon Tracking initiative in 2008 and expanded the scheme two years later to include other businesses and public sector organisations in seven countries. By the end of the year it expects that over 10,000 participants will be involved.

WSP said that three years of data suggests that the scheme has helped raise awareness of personal carbon impact and can help greener decision making across the business.

However, the firm admitted that some consumer decisions remained unaffected by personal allowances.

"While the scheme is particularly effective at prompting reductions in emissions from cars and homes, we have found that generally carbon allowances are not enough to influence major, one-off decisions, such as whether or not to take a long-haul flight for a holiday," said David Symons, the director at WSP responsible for the scheme.

"This indicates that policy makers will need to look to other levers to encourage people to make these kinds of serious lifestyle changes."

WSP's results also vary hugely from country to country. For example, Swedish workers got by with an average footprint of 2.5 tonnes of CO2 a year, while US employees pumped out 7.8 tonnes. UK staff snuck in just under the global average of 4.7 tonnes with 4.1 tonnes per person.