Jane Burston | www.carbonretirement.com

"We force industrial companies to pollute less"

I’m a co-Founder and Director of Carbon Retirement, a social enterprise that provides a more ethical and effective way for companies and individuals to offset their unavoidable emissions.

We also produce research into the offsetting and emissions trading markets to make them more transparent and effective. Our last piece of research, which was published by the BBC, found that only 28p in every £1 spent on offsetting projects get to the project the money was intended to fund!

We are now developing two campaigns, one to get government to protect the most vulnerable from fuel poverty, and another to encourage business to act on climate change on a meaningful scale.

What specific change do you bring about with Carbon Retirement and how are you doing it?

Carbon Retirement is transforming carbon offsetting into something that genuinely makes a difference. We give people power to reduce emissions in a simple, transparent, effective way – and in doing so we help them to take responsibility for their unavoidable emissions.

We force industrial companies to pollute less buy buying the permits they need and permanently removing them from the system. So rather than buying permits and continuing to pollute, these companies have to reduce their emissions.

We’ve won quite a few awards for our approach and have been called “the world’s first truly ethical carbon offsetting company”, which is nice! Our clients range from small NGOs to FTSE100 companies, as well as individuals who offset flights and home energy via our website. Recently the Committee on Climate Change offset with us, which is great as they are the most well-respected body of economists and climate change scientists in the UK, so having them as a client is a great way to raise awareness of our approach at the highest levels.

What networks work best for you?

Our clients are generally CSR executives or people with environmental responsibility in their organisation. Through our research we also work with Environmental Campaigners and Environmental Policy makers.

We’re looking for grant funding for one of our campaigns at the moment, and investment for the company, so I am currently spending a lot of time in that world which is rather new to me!

Finally, what other female social innovator would you particularly recommend our readers to look at/be inspired from?

I'd have to say Noreena Hertz. She's a rare combination of economist and campaigner, whose work centres on the principle that markets need to serve people as much as companies or shareholders.

I'm a huge fan not only because her work is hugely insightful (The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and The Death of Democracy, in 2001, and The Debt Threat, in 2004, predicted our current financial crisis) but because unlike many academics she combines her research with successful campaigns to tackle the sorts of problems highlighted in her books, for example she persuaded hundreds of football players and managers to donate a days’ salary to a hardship fund for underpaid nurses. Any economist who has Bono amongst her fans is worth a look in my book!

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NEWS MARCH 2011:

Jane Burston named one of Square Mile magazine’s 30 Future Leaders Under 30. 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.

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.

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Jane's background is in strategy consulting. Her varied roles include climate change policy for Transport for London and carbon management consulting for SMEs. Jane has been named a British Library and Striding Out Future 100 Ethical Entrepreneur, and in the Guardian 'top 50 in retail' list.

Jane is actively involved in non-profits as a board member of sustainable technology charity Computers for African Schools and as a British Council Climate Change Ambassador.

Smarta's 'top 5 most ethical small businesses in the UK'
Real Business 'top 30 UK Entrepreneurs under 30' 2010.
Red Magazine '20 most influential women under 30' 2010
Courvoisier Future 500 Entrepreneur 2009
UnLtd Award winner 2009
Shell Livewire winner 2009
Shell Springboard finalist 2009
British LIbrary/Striding Out Future 100 Ethical Entrepreneur 2008