FAQs

Balance is a fresh approach, moving on from carbon neutral, combining carbon & biodiversity.

The purchase of a Balance Unit guarantees that at least a tonne of carbon will be taken out of the atmosphere over time as a direct result of the company’s contribution. We plant trees in a biodiversity-supportive way in accredited forests with full carbon monitoring, supplemented by the planting of new saplings in a location that is convenient to the client’s business, creating visible impact. Our planting partners have to adhere to the best-practice principles covered in the Planting Partner Contract (see below).

All ‘additionality’ is mitigated, meaning that the Balance Unit results in genuine carbon reduction rather than being attached to planting that might have happened anyway (as was sometimes the case in the carbon market historically).

This means that a client can have complete confidence that their contributions have made a genuine difference, as well as having a visible demonstration of their commitment to the environment through natural woodland growing in accessible locations.

Every Balance Unit will result in at least one tonne of carbon taken out of the atmosphere over time in a way which supports true biodiversity.

First of all, Balance is a better system than traditional carbon offsetting. It combines a carbon and biodiversity credit enabling significant long-term benefits to people and the environment.
 
We are in a climate and biodiversity emergency. Balance enables partnership with customers, staff and stakeholders to build a loyal community delivering a positive solution. The forests are public spaces registered to the company; therefore, you have a three-dimensional brand extension into your customer’s environment, enabling events, planting days and outdoor classrooms. You can keep your customers updated on biodiversity and wildlife enhancement, building and maintaining long-term relationships. The public relations benefits of being at the vanguard of this fresh approach can bring significant benefits to the Business. 
 
Beyond its positive environmental impact, Balance in Business has immediate benefits.  Balance is becoming a recognised platform, a mark of quality that shows that an organisation approaches its environmental responsibilities thoughtfully and holistically. It helps companies attract and retain the best people, many of whom have a strong desire to work for ethically sound companies.
 
Increasingly, ‘people expect brands to deliver real value, act responsibly, and do right by the community, including their employees.’ (Kantar) The biodiversity-supportive forestry provided through Balance planting is visible to customers and is further symbolised clearly by the ‘extra tree’. 
 
Participating in Balance marks out companies as being responsible ESG investments to organisations of influence like Principles for Responsible Investment, which has calculated that companies that fail to act on carbon may lose up to 43% of their value.

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Balance is designed to interact with the ESG and sustainability agenda. It is a superior product to the old carbon-neutral system and costs the same, making purchasing decisions of Procurement Directors easy. Balance senior management are accomplished executives from the advertising marketing industries with long-term experience of large corporations needs. We have the experience to tailor specific campaigns to specific brands. The large corporations will have a Balance project manager to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Biodiversity matters deeply to the future of life on Earth. It is not a luxury. Plants, animals, and fungi do not exist in isolation but in complex and connected ecosystems, which form the foundations of human life. A healthy ecosystem carries out a number of vital roles – not just preserving the climate, but also cleaning water, maintaining soil, purifying air, recycling nutrients, and creating habitats. A biodiverse ecosystem is also resilient and a good insurance against unforeseen environmental events resulting from climate change. But when one part is lost, the whole system is threatened, and we are losing biodiversity at unprecedented rates around the world, with thousands of species facing extinction every year.

It is vital, therefore, that tree planting occurs in a sustainably biodiverse way – not just trees, but the right trees in the right place in the right way with the right protection. A true commitment to biodiversity means not only hitting a number but encouraging the symbiotic chains on which nature depends, such as leaving dead wood for bugs that can in turn be enjoyed by woodpeckers. It’s a commitment that we ensure happens over time, not just for a year or two. When this happens, we are truly protecting our futures, not just hoping for the best. Balance also supports natural regeneration and rewilding projects which can help with this process.

The two approaches are very different. Although the intentions of the original carbon offsetting approach were good, abuses and speculation crept in which vastly reduced their value to society and the environment, and led to wide scepticism. For example, much capital was invested in renewable energy systems that might have been developed anyway rather than in sustainable natural forestry. The Balance approach has taken the lessons from this experience and used them to provide a radically different and improved alternative. Some of the key differences are shown below.

 

Carbon offsetting

Balance approach

Carbon offset only

Sustainable biodiversity and carbon reduction 

Side effects on local communities

Respect for local community welfare and wishes

Opaque

Transparent and verifiable

‘Carbon neutral’

Environmentally balanced over the long term

Trading-oriented

Solution-oriented

Issues around ‘additionality’

Investment linked to real actions

Often inappropriate monoculture or industrial-style planting

Indigenous trees planted only 

No control on location

Forests you can see and touch

Limited future protection

Guaranteed protection against future events such as new rail developments.

Renewable energy offsets or GHG equivalents 

Balance is solely focused on biodiverse forestry

We plant trees and ensure they are protected. Both matter. New woodland creation is one of the most controllable and tangible ways to take carbon out of the atmosphere and reduce climate change. But forests need protection too. Trees that are planted outside of a sustainable ecosystem will die early and release carbon back into the atmosphere. Under Balance, new trees are planted in a sustainable and biodiverse way, with forests carrying a 99-year maintenance contract from a trusted partner.

For companies that do not have a current carbon assessment, we offer two options.

Balance to Sector is an innovative, validated approach developed by Balance that allows organisations to estimate their Scope 1 and 2 emissions simply by inputting annual turnover and company registration number. These two inputs allow us to provide high accurate estimate with minimal time spent and at no cost. This is an attractive option for many smaller companies without complex supply chains. To try out the simplicity of Balance to Sector click here.

Balance to Assessment is suitable for organisations with significant supply chains who need to include their supply chain emissions (Scope 3) in the calculation of their total carbon footprint. The Balance to Assessment tool provides a thorough in-depth study of a company’s emissions with step-by-step assistance from expert analysts. It is powered by Ecometrica, a leader in environmental monitoring and reporting. Further details here.

Yes, a fully Balanced business is permitted to use the Balance® Certification. This will become a widely known and trusted sign of a responsible business. The accreditation includes the grid reference location of the forest and the ‘vintage’ of the year that has been Balanced. The Balanced logo can be displayed on products accounted for within the carbon assessment, on the company’s communications, and in locations around the business.

The Balance system is independently verified and totally transparent. Each Balance Tonne is visible on a publicly viewable database and the planting and forest management are supervised by reputable environmental organisations such as the Woodland Carbon Code in the UK, Plan Vivo and Gold Standard among others internationally. Over and above this, the Balance planting partners adhere to the high standards of the Balance Organisation’s six point planting partner contract.

Trees are planted in a sustainable and protected way in a biodiverse environment, meaning that the forest will flourish and contribute holistically not just to carbon reduction but to a better environment all round. The trees are indigenous to the local area and planted by reputable planting partners with 99-year maintenance contracts, to enable best practice sustainable forestry. This ensures that the forest overall is managed for survival and growth over the long term. A Balanced Forest not only sequesters an agreed and monitored amount of carbon over time, it contributes to vital biodiversity.

Every Balance Tonne guarantees that at least a tonne of carbon will be taken out of the atmosphere, which means that planting needs to occur in carefully monitored and regulated Balanced Forests. The ‘extra tree’, linked to the balance tonne on our database, is not subject to the same degree of costs and regulation, but this allows flexibility for the trees (one per Balance Tonne) to be planted in locations that are desirable for specific reasons, for example, proximity to customers, or to support visible wildlife corridors near urban centres. This extra tree is not instead of other plantings. It is a small biodiversity enhancing thank you from you to your customers, and a visible symbol of their much-needed support for priceless natural ecosystems enabling planting to take place in locations that would not receive funding from carbon finance.

Yes. The Balance mark contains a grid reference. You are given location details and can visit your forests. Balance in Business is about real trees, real forests, real people, and a real difference. We encourage customer and staff planting days. We will also agree with you where your ‘extra tree’ for each Balance Tonne can be planted.

Dan, the founder of Balance, already has a long history of working with over 250 leading companies to reduce their environmental impact, such as Volvo, Mazda, and HSBC.

As a contemporary solution to reducing environmental impact and supporting biodiversity, Balance is already attracting a diverse range of companies with a strong sense of purpose and a desire to leave a positive mark on the world, ranging from CCC (cost control for the advertising industry) to Ninja Tune (a leading independent record label with offices in London and Los Angeles).

  1. Planting approach supports biodiversity, with mixed natural species creating a habitat suitable to the area.
  2. Each contract is linked to an area of publicly accessible forest.
  3. 99 year maintenance and protection contracts to ensure permanence.
  4. All additionality issues addressed, meaning that contributions directly result in actual trees planted.
  5. Provision against ‘force majeure’ e.g. new roads through forests
  6. Indigenous – Local People. Human rights are at the core of the Balance methodology. Climate action should be consistent with human rights obligations

Emissions do not cause all their damage immediately. In the process of radiative forcing, it takes 50 years for CO2 to be at its most potent and another 50 years for it to be reabsorbed, which is why it is vital that climate protection actions take a much longer view than has often been the case in the past. We therefore write our planting partner contracts to cover 99 years, although our forests are designed to be around for a lot longer than that. (The Forest of Marston Vale has an 840-year lease, for example.)

Balance carbon quantities are based on the tonnage of carbon sequestered per hectare. For an in-depth read on the science behind Balance please see our peer reviewed methodology.

Balance™ Methodology Executive Summary

Balance™ Methodology Part-1

Balance™ Methodology Part-2

Balance™ Methodology Part-3

No, it is not; forestry is part of a suite of solutions. However, the moon shot, it is estimated that there is a landmass the size of North America globally that can be reforested. If this was done appropriately, it can address 20% of global warming.

£35 per tonne UK-based carbon with the Extra Tree planted. As international forests come on line prices will vary. 

Any data you share with us will be kept confidential. If you would like your company name to be displayed alongside the planting you have supported, that can be arranged!

Some of this can get quite complex, so please feel free contact us at info@balance.eco if you would like to discuss any of it further, and we welcome suggestions and feedback.