Net Zero Update - Second Project we are Supporting

Following on from our previous announcement regarding our partnership with Upenergy’s cookstove project in Uganda, we’re really pleased to announce the details of the second project we have chosen to work with to offset our carbon emissions for 2021.  

The Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia protects one of the most important forests in Cambodia. It is home to critically endangered primates like the black-shanked douc and 130 Asian elephants, one of the largest remaining populations in the Lower Mekong. It is the ancestral and contemporary home of the indigenous Bunong.  



Its REDD project (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) has been key in helping Cambodia meet its commitment to reducing carbon emissions under the Paris Climate Agreement. It is one of the largest carbon emission reduction programmes in Cambodia and is responsible for the avoidance of over 17.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions over the next 10 years, equivalent to the annual emissions from over four million passenger vehicles, two million homes and four coal-burning power plants.  

This project protects the forest and the carbon stored in the vegetation by reducing the carbon emissions going back into the local atmosphere. It also aims to conserve the culture and tradition of indigenous and local communities who live within the Protection Forest area.  



They also work on educating local communities on reducing activities which are harmful to the local environment such as land grabbing where smallholder farmers illegally clear land through deforestation for crop planting, illegal hunting and poaching and large-scale mechanised logging of luxury grade tree species.  

The formalisation of land and resource rights for local communities and enhancement of legal protection has led to improved community-led land use planning and development, and through its work with local farmers, the REDD team has helped develop eco-tourism and the manufacture and sale of non-timber forest products. This ability to identify available revenues from carbon has achieved important outcomes: 

• Diversified income streams 
• Increase in job creation 
• Education programmes for children 
• 25,000 hectares of deforestation avoided since 2010 (equivalent to 35,000 football pitches) 
• 7 villages securing legally recognised communal land titles 
• 11.5 million tonnes of Greenhouse Gas Emissions since 2010. 

This project meets many of the standards set out in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals: 3, 6, 8, 13 and 15: Good Health and Wellbeing; Clean Water and Sanitation; Decent Work and Economic Growth; Climate Action, and Life on Land. 

All projects supported by Carbon Footprint are monitored by the Quality Assurance Standard (QAS) for Carbon Offsetting, of which Carbon Footprint was a Founding Member. The Quality Assurance Standard is a comprehensive independent audit system for companies wishing to become carbon neutral through carbon reduction. QAS-approved products are checked against a 40-point checklist to ensure they meet the very highest standards in the world. Organisations like IATA, The United Nations PRI and Qatar Airways put their trust in the QAS to ensure their environmental credibility is beyond doubt.