BP customers can now pay around £20 a year to offset the carbon dioxide emitted by their cars.
The oil company announced the Target Neutral scheme today (Wednesday 23). BP claims it wants to help offset the 22 percent of UK CO2 emissions generated by road transport, and has teamed up with charity Target Neutral to offer the voluntary scheme. Log onto www.targetneutral.com with details of your average mileage, type of fuel used and the make of car you drive. Your annual CO2 emissions will then be calculated instantaneously. From there the site will work out how many ‘carbon tokens’ you need to buy in order to neutralise the impact you’re making on the environment. For a driver of a cooking hatch doing 10,000 miles annually, some four tonnes of carbon is emitted, and the Target Neutral charge is £20 a year. Your payment in turn goes towards CO2 reduction projects such as biomass energy plants, wind farms and methane capture programmes.
In addition, BP will top-up customers’ donations. The oil giant will donate 10p per tank of normal fuel (20p on Ultimate fuels) every time you brim at a BP garage, and hand in your Nectarcard at the till. BP sees, on average, 1 million customers every day. CAR Online tried it out. To neutralise the carbon emissions of our Subaru Impreza STi an annual donation of £40.11 is required. Calculated on our annual mileage of 30,000-miles, BP will have to make a 10p donation on 150 tanks of fuel, adding a further £30 to the pot. Target Neutral is similar to a green initiative announced by Land Rover in July 2006. The 4×4 manufacturer is asking its customers to offset their new car’s CO2 emissions, with a payment of up to £165.