Smartly Green - Another CO2 Offset Shop Experience

October 15, 2007 · Filed Under Shopping 

Following TheOffsetShop another new shopping site has emerged offering consumers the chance to earn cashback when they shop online and then offset their CO2 activity to help save the environment. The name of this site is Smartlygreen. It works in pretty much the same way as other cashback sites run! You shop via these sites, the sites earn a commission, and that commission is then divided up between you and the site.

In this case “50% of smartlygreen.com’s net commission for your purchases is credited to your loyalty scheme account. Of this 80% is donated to PURE, the Clean Planet Trust, with the balance being returned to you in the form of cash. Once you have met your personal carbon offset target for the year, then 20% continues to be paid to Pure and the 80% is returned to you as cash”.

To take part you need to register and then remember to regularly shop via the site in order to accumulate the rewards and offset your own CO2. Whilst obviously there’s merit in this kind of thing and the site is well designed, Fight Climate Change is a little bit sceptical. Firstly there are many other sites offering cashback, some offer 100%, and when it comes to “giving money to offset CO2″ versus getting a “few extra quid in your pocket when you shop online”, sadly CO2 is going to come second.

Also, the more environmentally concious may think “hang on” - I can get more cashback in my pocket from say Free Fivers or Greasy Palm and use that extra money to buy a water butt, compost bin, energy saving lightbulbs etc which can help benefit the climate as opposed to giving it to offset CO2. Remember 50% of the commission is going to Smartlygreen!

And this leads to FCC’s biggest bugbear - CO2 offsetting!

Do the majority of people actually understand CO2 offsetting?

Offsetting CO2 is just a marketing offshoot of people wanting to be seen to be pro-active environmentally. Whilst no doubt the money goes to good causes somewhere, people would be far better being educated about personal sustainability, energy conservation, water conservation and what they physically can do to help climate change.

It’s great that shopping sites are sprouting up trying to put across the message of climate change to a wider audience, but using CO2 offsetting as a hook for me just doesn’t seem the right approach.

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