 |
Offsetting Unavoidable Emissions
Some carbon emissions associated with our operations will be unavoidable. To address these inescapable emissions, we plan to purchase carbon offsets.A carbon offset is a financial tool designed to support projects that prevent carbon from being released into the atmosphere. Done right, we believe that offsets will widen the implementation of carbon-saving technologies and provide an incentive to create new solutions.
The market for voluntary carbon offsets—offsets that exist outside the regulatory framework established by the Kyoto Protocol—is new and growing rapidly. We will use our purchases in the next few years to both learn from and help shape this market.
We will only consider offsets from projects that demonstrate a real reduction in greenhouse gas emissions which would not have occurred on a "business-as-usual" basis (i.e., are "additional"), and that have been verified by an independent, accredited, third party. Our company has a global footprint: as long as a project genuinely, permanently, and measurably reduces emissions, without causing any negative social, cultural, or environmental impacts, we are impartial as to the technology employed or the geographic location.
We will permanently retire (remove from circulation in the market) carbon offsets when we apply them to our businesses' carbon footprints. We prefer to purchase carbon offsets that are listed on registries to ensure they are tracked, handled, and listed without being double-counted.
There are several efforts underway to create standards for voluntary carbon offsets—while we do not have the technical expertise to assess the merits of any specific standard, we hope to see one or more of these become universally accepted.
To support the emergence of these standards, in the last two years we purchased carbon from projects that were either certified under the Voluntary Carbon Standard (developed by the Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development) or under the Gold Standard (developed by the World Wildlife Fund).
Our Initial Carbon Purchase
For our initial purchase to offset a portion of our 2007 footprint, we considered a wide range of different types of projects in different locations, and conducted a competitive bid. We agreed to purchase offsets from Cheyne Capital, an asset management firm with expertise in the voluntary carbon market, and 3Degrees, a wholesaler of renewable energy and other energy- and climate-related products. Together, these purchases total 61,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and come from a portfolio of wind energy projects in the state of Maharashtra, India and in Manawatu, New Zealand.
For our 2008 footprint, we again purchased VCS-certified offsets generated by the wind energy projects in Maharashtra, India. A total of 37,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide were purchased through Glacier Environmental Fund Limited.
As we continue to learn from our experiences and involvement in the
carbon markets, we will seek to build a diversified portfolio of offset
assets and to increase our offset purchases as we move toward our commitment
to become carbon neutral.
To retire our carbon offset purchases, we have opened an account with Bank of New York Mellon, an approved registry for VCS carbon. In April of 2009, 37,000 metric tons of VCS carbon were transferred from Glacier Environmental Fund Limited to the News Corporation account and immediately retired against the footprints of the following News Corporation businesses:
• News International – 26,873 tons (full fiscal 2008 footprint)
• HarperCollins UK – 8,962 tons 4,607 tons (full fiscal 2008 footprint)
• News Limited – 2,672 tons (News Digital Media and REA Group fiscal 2008 footprint)