Social enterprise rewarded at 30 Under 30 Future Leaders Awards

Jane Burston, founder of ethical carbon offsetting company Carbon Retirement, has just been named one of Square Mile magazine’s 30 Future Leaders Under 30 in the category of Social Enterprise. The list of 30 finalists was released at an evening reception on Friday 25 March, where Jane also received a special award for winning the Social Enterprise category. 

Jane said that it was fantastic that the award "recognised real value in environmentally driven business". 

Since setting up Carbon Retirement two years ago, Jane and her company have won nine awards for innovation and ethical business including being named one of the Smarta top 5 ethical small businesses in the UK.

Carbon Retirement’s innovative approach has challenged the offsetting market and works in a fundamentally different way to traditional project-based carbon offsetting, priding itself in offering the most transparent and effective way to offset carbon emissions. It is more environmentally effective than traditional methods and a reliable solution for carbon neutral businesses, NGOs and charities.

The concept is simple. On behalf of organisations that want to become carbon neutral, Carbon Retirement buys up industrial pollution permits and permanently removes them from the market so they cannot be used by the heavy industries that need them. With fewer permits in circulation, companies that would have bought the permits instead have to reduce their emissions. 

Carbon Retirement’s clients include The Committee on Climate Change, a body of the UK’s top climate scientists, FTSE 100 private equity firm 3i and the Church of England.

Carbon Retirement has been approved by the UK Government Quality Assurance Scheme, which recognises only the very highest standards in terms of carbon footprint measurement and offsetting.