At Octopus we provide 100% renewable electricity as standard, and for customers who also want carbon neutral gas, we offer our Super Green tariff.
For Super Green customers, we calculate the carbon emissions from their gas use over the course of the year and purchase the equivalent amount of carbon offsetting credits through our partner Renewable World. This way, you get carbon neutral energy and while helping to support clean, sustainable energy projects.
Photo credit: South Pole
We work with Renewable World to carefully select projects that guarantee a reduction in carbon emissions, but also tackle poverty, promote energy independence and improve people’s health and wellbeing.
Our flagship projects currently include investing in cleaner cookstoves and providing communities with access to clean drinking water, and renewable energy.
Photo credit: South Pole
It's something we take for granted - the ability to cook safely, without having to endure toxic smoke, or spend hours a day sourcing fuel. But for almost half the world's population, open fire and carbon intensive hard fuels are all that's available. Women and children who spend more time at home are most directly impacted, and this also limits their access to opportunities like education and employment.
That's why cleaner cooking stoves are essential in order to address energy poverty - reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring energy security for billions of people. By supporting the distribution of clean, efficient cookstoves (and fuel), we can transform the way the world cooks - saving lives, protecting the climate and empowering women in the process.
More info here for Rwanda, and here for Somalia.
Photo credit: Likano for South Pole
Clean water is crucial, but in parts of Rwanda it can be difficult and hazardous to source. Often families will either boil water over an inefficient fire - producing toxic emissions, or travel long distances - sometimes for hours every day just to access clean drinking water.
This project restores and repairs existing boreholes to provide safe water to Rwandan communities, returning people with valuable time that can be spent in work, education, or at home, whilst reducing the number of water-borne or respiratory diseases, thanks to better sanitary conditions and less indoor smoke. By also removing the need to boil water, greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced, as is deforestation in the surrounding forests where firewood is gathered. A win-win for communities and nature alike.
Photo credit - South Pole
By using poultry waste and rice husks as a fuel source, rather than leaving the litter to pollute the local area, this project is reimagining the ways renewable energy can be generated, benefiting the regional economy and surrounding villages.
Dumped farm waste releases methane, a greenhouse gas that’s up to 34x more harmful than CO2. This refuse can also contaminate the local environment, causing problems with health and sanitation for people living nearby. By converting the waste into biogas, both a circular economy is created and the overall emissions are far less harmful than that of burning natural gas -- changing lives in the process.
Put simply, for every tonne of CO2 you emit through your gas usage, we invest in carbon reduction projects to make sure there is one tonne less going into the atmosphere. We do this through Gold Standard and Verra VSC certified carbon credits, which are a recognised way that companies and individuals can take responsibility for their unavoidable carbon emissions. The offset credits are 'retired' after purchase to avoid double counting.
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Published on 31st August 2022 by:
Hey I'm Constantine, welcome to Octopus Energy!
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