Carbon Emissions

Step 3: Purchasing Carbon Offsets

IFC is committed to reducing its carbon emissions to the extent possible. To offset our carbon footprint after all feasible reduction efforts have been implemented, we purchase project-based carbon offsets. Our goal is to have a rigorous corporate-wide GHG inventory to maintain 100 percent global carbon neutrality that was achieved for the first time this year. IFC has calculated its carbon inventory using data received from our largest office in Washington, DC and from 96 percent of our country offices. In order to purchase carbon offsets for 100 percent of our global operations, estimates are used to fill in our data gaps.

To date, we have offset our carbon emissions by purchasing:

• Green Power — In the Washington office, IFC has been purchasing green power through use of renewable energy credits (RECs). Since 2005, RECs have covered 100 percent of Washington DC Office electricity use
  
  
• Voluntary Emissions Reductions (VERs) — To date, all VERs, which are "carbon offsets" servicing the market for voluntary actions (as opposed to compliance-related requirements), have been purchased directly from the project owners after a rigorous review of the merits of the underlying project and methodology used to calculate the emission reductions.