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CARBON REDUCTION
Personal carbon trading
GREEN
GIANTS
WSP Environment & Energy was the world’s first company to set up a personal
carbon trading scheme for staff. David Symons explains how it has
encouraged people to change their behaviour – and raised awareness, too
L
ouise Wood had more than the recession challenging – and to provide an incentive for emissions, by receiving a reward for their low-
on her mind when she opted for her our staff to change their behaviour. carbon behaviour.
‘staycation’ in Cornwall for her summer Simon Clennell-Jones, one of the partici- While these anecdotes support the argu-
holiday this year. Part of her reasoning was to pants, acknowledges that it has changed his ments for the beneficial effect of the scheme,
choose a holiday that kept her under her per- behaviour. “When I saw how much energy I WSP also worked with a PhD student earlier
sonal carbon allowance for the year – an was wasting, I changed all my light bulbs to in 2009 to measure the relationship between
allowance that she had already largely used up energy-saving bulbs and got rid of my second schemes like PACT and behaviour. The find-
on an Easter trip to the sun. fridge,” he says. “It definitely helped to keep ings showed that PACT members were likely
Louise is a member of WSP Environment & me aware of how I was really using energy.” to be more environmentally conscious – and
Energy’s (WSP) Personal Carbon Allowance Another PACT member, Marie Jones, more likely to take energy and carbon saving
and Trading, or PACT, scheme. added: “As a result of the scheme I was able to initiatives – than a control group drawn from
PACT is a personal carbon tracker that see how much carbon I was using on my car. I outside the scheme. As well as altering their
allows WSP employees to measure just how decided to stop driving to work and I took up travel and holiday arrangements, staff have
much carbon they use outside of work, cycling instead.” developed their own green initiatives, such as
measured against an annual carbon budget. installing home energy meters, changing their
Those who sign up, receive a personal carbon cars to more energy efficient models and, in
dioxide allowance of 5.5 tonnes a year to cover
their home, energy and travel for that period.
They track and report their consumption each
quarter, and, at the end of the year, receive
‘
When I saw how much energy I
several cases, opting for a green electricity
was wasting, I changed all my
tariff, rated zero on the PACT model.
light bulbs to energy-saving bulbs
and got rid of my second fridge.
Rewards
their results. Those that are under their The rewards of keeping on top of personal
allowance receive a gift payment of 5p per
kilogramme. Those over, pay the same rate, up
to a ceiling of £100.
’
It kept me aware of my usage’ emissions are being felt by WSP staff, but the
additional perks of donating the funds that are
While measuring carbon emissions is collected at the end of the year to an environ-
The scheme was set up to engage with our definitely a goal of the scheme, it has also been mental charity, brings even more to the
staff, and it complements our business used as a means of developing greater members. Last year, WSP donated £1,300 to
corporate responsibility programmes, as it understanding. Many WSP staff members the Woodland Trust – largely because staff
helps our staff to really understand where they are committed environmentalists that are who came under the threshold gave their
use carbon in their travel to work, their home generally aware of their personal emissions. bonus to charity rather than taking the cash.
energy, or their international travel. But even so, many of them were still surprised The value of donating the funds to one charity
This year around 80 of the company’s UK by the results. “I thought that the flights I’d that the teams had nominated, had a signifi-
staff have signed up, and we expect most peo- taken this year would have pushed me over cant impact, and future plans will include a
ple to come in under the 5.5 tonne threshold. the limit, but I came in under my budget – it rota of green charities for team members to
We wanted to set the threshold sufficiently was probably my cycle to work that saved choose from each year.
high to encourage our staff into the scheme me,” said Angela Bond, a senior ecologist at But a personal carbon trading scheme
without fear of being immediately penalised. the company. would be difficult to implement wider. WSP’s
Over the next few years we’ll progressively Even the less green members on the scheme personal carbon trading scheme relies on trust
reduce the allowance to make it a little more have managed to benefit from keeping low – the firm isn’t auditing member returns. It
26 October 2009 ❘ Sustainable Business
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