Oblong Trees: Oblong trees tries to translate emissions into a standard form that all businesses should understand – Number of employees. They price their services by asking for ‘donations’ monthly of 2 gbp + VAT and over 10 years will have planted 240 trees per employee.
Points of interest:
- Offer choice of location for those planting a lot
- Offer to let you pay planting partners directly, reinforcing charitable message
- Looks at the big picture of the UK rather than micro-calculations for how much each company should owe.
- Live estimate of sequestered CO2 on header
Business Rewards: Oblong trees offers the option to have a logo and a link in their own hall of heroes page. They also allow use of special graphics like “carbon offset logo” on business websites etc. Offer service to send out messages on various social media to let everyone know that a business has joined.
| Monthly | £2+VAT a month per employee | Spread the cost over 10 years. |
| Full | £240+VAT per employee | Pay full amount for year up-front. |
| Head-Start | Initial Cost: £24+VAT per employee Monthly Cost: £2+VAT per employee | Pay for 1 year up-front and then continue with monthly option. |
Ecologi: Landing page for business owners offers a much more tailored approach to carbon offsetting. Focus on a package type deal allowing businesses to refine based upon number AND type of employee.
Points of interest:
- Business impact calculator that allows you to work out how much impact the business has relative to number of employees.
- For companies with over 250 employees, they offer a direct service and ask to get in touch directly.
- Option for additional ‘local’ projects when building your employer profile. This is as an add-on at the end, impulse based selling.
- Sold as a “package”
- Allows “company forests” which is visible to see on public profile.
- Public sustainability profile on website
- Allow for purchasing more trees based on new sales/clients
| Employees | £5.20 per employee/ monthly | Includes minor business travel of up to 5,000 miles by car or 2 short-haul flights annually |
| Intermittent Jet setter employees | £10.40 per employee / monthly | Includes up to 5,000 and 30,000 miles by car or less than 10 short-haul flights annually. |
| Frequent Long-hauler employees | £20.80 per employee / monthly | Includes up to 90,000 miles by car or less than 30 short-haul return flights or under 9 long-haul return flights annually. |
Carbon Footprint: Different services offered for different groups – Individuals, small businesses, and larger businesses. There are free online calculators for individuals and businesses, but larger businesses are offered a consultancy appraisal service. Once calculated for small businesses, ability to choose from various projects to donate to. Below is a list of all business services offered – clearly massively out of date.
| ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 | Transitioning to 2015 standards |
| Compliance Reporting | ESOS, CRC, CCA, Mandatory GHG reporting, Royal Warrants, Mandatory Non-Financial Reporting (aka Sustainability Reporting) |
| Assurance | Validation of your own reporting, e.g. Carbon Foot=print, Sustainability etc |
| Buildings Energy Audit | Including ESOS, DEC, EPCs, for ISO 50001 |
| Transport Energy Audit | Including ESOS, for ISO 50001 |
| Plastic Waste Management | Improving your plastic footprint and plastic and waste management |
| Waste Footprint Services | Including waste audits, waste foot printing, procurement & training |
| Health & Safety | Audit, policy, risk assessment support, training, OHSAS 18001 |
It seems like Carbon Footprint is attempting to target the ‘work’ side of things rather than outcomes. They offer services that the other companies don’t – such as a dedicated supply chain footprint analysis, product footprint, and services footprint analysis. Much more comprehensive overview of company footprint offered and as such no clear pricing. Calculated on a case-by-case basis with some degree of tailoring.
Trees for Life: Trees for life is a Scottish Company that focusses on replanting groves around Scotland. They don’t seem to have as much information for businesses and seem to be mainly targeting individual donations through their sleek and incredibly well-done website. Not a huge amount of text, mainly focussing on images. Gold Partners include: Aegon UK, DAI Global UK, Force One Ltd, Fundraising Everywhere, Greener Energy Group, Jisc, Jude’s, Pacific Produce, Rogue Films. Platinum includes: ASA, Clean Planet Energy, Ella’s Kitchen, GlueGunsDirect.com, Icomera, Krystal, NC’NEAN, Timetastic.
Points of interest:
- Option to set up a “corporate grove” – for a fee of £100 and an additional £6 for each tree it allows businesses to plant and name a dedicated grove for your business. This can be paid for up front or monthly. Allows for tracking on a personalised web-page.
- Partnership programme seems to be the main form of business brokering – with varied costs and benefits. These are outlined in the table below.
- Very strong and visually appealing website
| Silver Partner | £500 (+VAT) contribution, annual fundraising target of £1,000 | * Use of a special ‘Silver Partner’ logo * A marketing pack with content for your campaigns * A certificate of partnership, signed by our CEO * Listing on our website and a branded giving page * A subscription to Caledonia wild * Discounted team building weekends and volunteering opportunities |
| Gold Partner | £1,000 (+VAT) contribution, annual fundraising target of £2,000 | * Use of a special ‘Gold Partner’ logo * A marketing pack with content for your campaigns * Listing on our website and a branded giving page * A personal letter of thanks from our CEO, and a signed certificate of partnerships * A subscription to Caledonia wild * Invitations to supporter gatherings, and complimentary tours of our Dundreggan estate * Discounted team building weekends and volunteering opportunities. |
| Platinum Partner | £5,000 (+VAT) contribution, annual fundraising target of £5,000 | * Use of a special ‘Platinum Partner’ logo * A marketing pack with content for your campaigns * Logo listing across our website and a branded giving page * Space in our member’s newsletters to showcase your giving * A personal letter of thanks from our CEO, and a signed certificate of partnerships * A subscription to Caledonia wild * Invitations to supporter gatherings, and complimentary tours of our Dundreggan estate * Discounted team building weekends and complimentary ‘team days’ at our estate * An invitation to an annual dinner with our leadership team. |
| Bespoke Partner | N/A | e-mail for information: info@treesforlife.org.uk |
Carbon Neutral: Landing home-page shows clearly three testimonials from Microsoft, Sky, and Logitech. These, along with Hirdaramani Group and Vmware make up the group of 5 companies they work with that have over $1bn+ revenue. Eden, Elopak, Fetzer Vineyards, Wessanen, and Lime are the companies they work with that have over $100m+ in revenue. The last three companies all have over $10m+ in revenue: GreenBiz, Neal’s yard remedies, Bull Dog. They focus on this heavily so it appears they are targeting other large companies.
Points of Interest:
- Clear 5 stage Carbon Neutral protocol very clearly outlined. Optional PDF that is VERY informative.
- Incredibly tailored service offered with relative pricing dependant on strategy
- Sub-contract to other companies to perform emissions measurements
- Communicate to stakeholders and others with tips, tools, copy, images, and a certification logo.
Carbon neutral seems to be like the largest outlier within this group of companies. They offer a much more comprehensive service from start to finish and is more business orientated – stating that they assess different areas to become carbon neutral in, and more specifically how best to reach the goal with your company. Aimed at large businesses.
Clear: Clear offers unique tools for businesses looking to carbon offset – with the most comprehensive tool for business carbon offsetting calculations. Seems to be targeting companies who want to complete their calculations themselves, or want to pay their exact fair share.
Points of Interest:
- Great mix of tools to calculate emissions. Business offset calculator includes hotel stays, business commuting, raw materials and manufacturing. Each option has different metrics to track. Great for companies happy to complete the work themselves and pay externalities immediately
- Emissions covered immediately with same day e-mail of certificates
- Brilliant offline tool to work on calculations, bypassing consultancy and audit fees.
- Clear do also offer a consultancy service for those that want it