Carbon Neutral Translations

Greener than the average translator

In a world in which we are increasingly aware of our impact on the planet, environmentally aware suppliers are a source of added value for many organizations. With this in mind, in 2016 I started estimating and offsetting my carbon footprint, a first step to providing carbon-neutral Spanish to English translations.

Carbon footprint calculation for 2016

	CO2e kg
A. Transport	3,516
B. Household and home office	504
C. Purchasing	978
D. Diet	2,500
Total	7,489

Figures calculated based on DEFRA conversion factors for 2016, DEFRA Environmental Reporting Guidelines and ICAO data (air travel). Diet figure based on estimates by Shrink that Footprint.

Having looked into the details of various carbon offset programmes, I settled on making an annual donation to the charity Trees4Scotland, based on its suggestion of planting one tree per 0.734 tonnes of CO₂e.

Trees4Scotland was founded in 2008 and is dedicated to planting native permanent woodlands in Scotland. Its projects aim to help restore Scotland’s landscape to its traditional woodland state and contribute to meeting the Scottish Government’s target of increasing forestry cover to 25% by 2050. All the trees planted are traditional woodland varieties such as oak, birch, ash and rowan.