Consumers have the right to expect that carbon offsets that are promised to happen over time will be honoured. Businesses that promise something will happen at some time in the future risk misleading consumers, and therefore breaking the law, if the event or effect never happens. This is relevant to greenhouse claims, where some offset projects occur over many years.
Be aware that an offset is not complete until the promised emissions reduction has been delivered. This means it may be misleading for a business to claim that something is ‘carbon neutral’ now, on the basis of promised future credits.
A business that makes future carbon claims should be able to back them up by providing information about:
the time it will take for the promised carbon reduction to occur
any measures that are in place to reduce your emissions in the short term
any guarantees that are in place—for instance, if you will be compensated if the expected results don’t happen, or if the business will secure replacement offsets if the project doesn’t deliver expected results.
If this information is important to your purchasing decision, but is not available, it may be better to choose a business that can provide it.
