The Government Carbon Offsetting Facility (GCOF II)
Please note customers must complete the relevant documents no later than 19th February 2010 to be included in the first e-auction which takes place on the 9th March 2010.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has produced guidance on carbon offsetting for the public sector, and should be read in the first instance by public sector organisations considering whether to offset emissions.
The guidance is available in both English and Welsh language versions and can be downloaded below.
Carbon Offsetting Guides
20100118 – Guide to Carbon Offsetting (Size: 1 MB)
20100118 – Canllawiau ar wrthbwyso carbon (Size: 1 MB)
Buying Solutions has operated the Government Carbon Offsetting Facility (GCOF) since 18 January 2010 and it is available to all public sector organisations, including Central Government Departments, Local Government, Devolved Administrations, Executive Agencies and NDPB's.
The policy for GCOF is owned by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and its operation by Buying Solutions is governed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between DECC and Buying Solutions.
GCOF facilitates the purchase of high-quality – Gold Standard or with equivalent benefits in terms of sustainable development – Certified Emissions Reduction (CER) credits under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to offset public sector emissions. DECC wishes to encourage all public sector organisations wishing to offset emissions to use GCOF as their mechanism for purchasing CER credits.
Emissions offset through GCOF must be for a particular activity (travel, use of purchased electricity etc) or produced over a defined period of time, and calculated using the Defra emissions conversion factors. Direct end-user CO2 emissions can be offset, as can emissions arising from purchased electricity.
The GCOF II Practitioner’s Guides on this page explain how to calculate these emissions.
Buying Solutions is an approved supplier of quality assured credits under the Government’s quality assurance scheme (QAS) for carbon offsetting. If your public sector organisation decides to purchase offset credits, the following guidance describes the process of offsetting emissions through the Government Carbon Offsetting Facility (GCOF).
GCOF II Practioner Guides
20100118 – GCOF II Practitioner’s Guide (Size: 658 KB)
20100118 – GCOF II canllaw i ymarferwyr (Size: 658 KB)
Useful Web Sites
Public sector organisations may also find the following external web site links useful in relation to climate change, carbon footprinting and carbon offsetting:
In particular, customers may wish to visit the following DECC web pages:
Other Web Sites
- Electronic Property Information Management Service (Non GSi Network Users)
- Electronic Property Information Management Service (GSi Network Users)
- Act on CO2 campaign
- Carbon Trust
Further Information
Please contact Buying Solutions on 0345 410 2222 or email gcof@buyingsolutions.gsi.gov.uk for further information. Alternatively you can contact Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on 0300 060 4000 or email: carbonoffsetting@decc.gsi.gov.uk.
Note: GCOF was previously known as the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund, but the name Fund was changed to Facility in September 2009 to reflect the new type of contract being introduced.