Taking the lead: Partner organisation officially carbon neutral
by Kristi Foster & Daisy Ouya (ICRAF)
As of January 2013, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya is officially carbon neutral. The Nairobi base was certified by The CarbonNeutral Company as a CarbonNeutral® office, setting an example that it hopes other offices and institutions will follow in addressing the challenge of our time – climate change. Prior to offsetting its emissions, ICRAF Headquarters published a detailed account of its 2011 carbon footprint. The findings of this assessment, the first in the Centre's history, are already informing actions to reduce carbon emissions at the headquarters, with the ultimate goal of achieving carbon-neutrality for its operations around the globe.
This past December, ICRAF headquarters bought carbon credits to offset its GHG emissions for the next two years, though an institution called The CarbonNeutral Company. The credits belong to the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in Kenya, which protects over 500,000 acres of forest, safeguards the highly threatened wildlife migration corridor between two of Kenya’s largest national parks, and brings diverse benefits to surrounding rural communities. The project, run by Wildlife Works, is the world’s first REDD project to be validated and verified under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and holds Gold Level status under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCB). The latter recognizes the exceptional environmental and social benefits the project provides – including job creation, education, and the provision of direct financial benefits from carbon to over 100,000 local people.
The carbon footprint assessment was co-funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).
CCAFS is also undertaking similar activities, moving towards a carbon neutral Coordinating Unit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Read more about our actions to reduce carbon emissions from the program activities in the "Coordinating Unit Carbon footprint initiative."
Read the rest of the story on World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) News Page.
Kristi Foster and Daisy Ouya are both dedicated communicators at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. Want to know more about CCAFS East Africa activities, follow the program on Twitter: @Cgiarclimate_ea.
