What’s That: Carbon Insetting

Are you looking for a meaningful approach to manage your company’s carbon footprint? For a prioritized process, it’s recommended to first, avoid emissions where possible, second, reduce emissions where practical, and lastly, compensate the remaining unpreventable emissions. Carbon insetting and offsetting complement each other within a comprehensive structured carbon strategy. While carbon offsetting is a widely familiar compensation concept, carbon insetting is less known but holds powerful reduction potential for integrating sustainability directly into your business operations. Today we’ll explore the advantages and challenges of both approaches, helping you choose the best path based on your company’s resources, goals, and long-term sustainability needs. This will give you the insights to balance immediate environmental progress with lasting impact.

What is carbon insetting?

Carbon insetting involves investing in projects that reduce or sequester emissions within your own value chain. These projects are often aligned with a company’s strategic objectives and directly affect their supply chain, operations, or products. For example, insetting can focus on reducing emissions from the distribution of goods, improving the environmental impact of upstream or downstream transportation, or working with suppliers to adopt greener practices. This approach helps to cut emissions associated with Scope 3, which includes the entire lifecycle of goods and services bought by a company. Insetting complements other climate management strategies, such as internal mitigation efforts and carbon offsetting, supporting sustainable value chain management.

Key Differences Between Insetting and Offsetting

Carbon offsetting refers to compensating for emissions by funding external projects that reduce greenhouse gases elsewhere. These projects can include renewable energy, reforestation, or carbon capture initiatives anywhere in the world. Each carbon offset typically represents one metric ton of CO₂ (or its equivalent) removed, reduced or avoided. Offsetting is often used to counterbalance unavoidable emissions when alternative mitigation measures in a company’s direct operations are not possible.

Insetting focuses on reducing emissions within the company’s own value chain, while offsetting involves funding external projects not directly related to a company’s operations. Insetting helps directly reduce operational risks and emissions in a tangible way, particularly for hard to abate Scope 3 emissions. Offsetting, while beneficial, does not reduce a company’s operational emissions but compensates for them through third-party projects. Therefore, offsetting is not as transparent of a solution as insetting, and often requires more due diligence to ensure its integrity.

Why Your Carbon Strategy Matters

With impending 2030 and 2050 decarbonization ambitions, businesses must adopt science-backed strategies to meet their targets and avoid greenwashing and green stalling claims. An extensive carbon strategy that includes both insetting and offsetting can help companies manage their carbon footprint effectively.

Insetting & Offsetting: Building a Balanced Approach

Insetting and offsetting both play important roles in a carbon strategy, and they can be used together. Insetting provides long-term benefits by reducing emissions in a company’s own operations, while offsetting addresses short-term needs. Together, these approaches help businesses meet decarbonization goals, support sustainable practices, and maintain credibility with consumers and stakeholders.

If you are ready to reduce your emissions without compromise, Mansfield is here to help. We offer expert strategy consulting, precise emissions reporting, alternative fuel products, and comprehensive credit management. CRC (Carbon Reduction Certified) is an insetting program that provides a pathway for corporations to meet their sustainability targets while managing their fuel costs.

Carbon Reduction Certified (CRC) powered by Mansfield, provides an effective and transparent pathway for delivering against ambitious climate commitments. By participating in the CRC program, you can actively reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to a sustainable future. Get in touch with our sustainability team to learn more about how we can help you meet your goals.