As findings from Climate Assembly UK reveal the population wants a green economic recovery plan in response the COVID-19 pandemic, carbon streaming service iOffset launches today with a ground-breaking initiative to help businesses offset their carbon emissions against products, services or transactions, supporting the journey to net zero by 2050. In a UK first, iOffset’s inaugural commercial partnership with national car retailers, Motor Depot and CarSupermarket.com, will see the dealerships offset the projected future emissions of every used car sold for the first year of ownership. This year, carbon emissions have undergone the sharpest drop since records began, putting climate change and sustainable practices firmly on the agenda as lockdown restrictions ease and individuals and organisations embark on the ‘new normal’. While the UK government has set a deadline of 2035 for all new cars sold to be free from emissions, Motor Depot and CarSupermarket.com, in partnership with iOffset, have taken a huge step forward to ensure consumers can make an impact on climate change by purchasing a used car that guarantees its emissions will be offset. Leading carbon footprint expert, Professor Mike Berners-Lee, and his team Small World Consulting, helped develop iOffset’s carbon use examples to enable people to make lifestyle choices that reduce their carbon footprint and for businesses to better understand their negative emissions impact. Steve Butterley, Managing Director of Motor Depot, added: “We are delighted to be able to bring this product to market. For many of the thousands of customers that visit our showrooms and forecourts every month, the prospect of an electric car is impractical and early-adopter pricing is out of reach. “Modern eco-conscious car shoppers are desperate to do the right thing, but to date have not had a viable alternative to the traditional used car. Used cars are an eco-friendlier option than a new car simply by the nature of being a recycled product and we’ve now brought to market a new type of used car in partnership with iOffset, one with the emissions offset for the first year or 10,000 miles of ownership, in a UK industry first.” iOffset funds some of the world’s leading high impact carbon reduction projects accredited by Gold Standard (WWF) and the United Nations. It is the only offsetting service to retire credits by default specifically in commercial customer and consumer names, automatically generating a link to their contribution on the public Gold Standard or UN registry, ensuring complete transparency on the offsetting programmes supported and benefits achieved. Mark Hammond, Founder of iOffset, is encouraging other individuals and businesses to examine their practices and how they can reduce and offset their CO2: “Our mission is to spearhead an international carbon reduction and offsetting culture, making it easy and affordable for individuals and businesses to reduce and offset their unavoidable emissions. I congratulate Motor Depot for being the first in the auto retail market in the UK to embark on this as part of their service, and hopefully this initiative will be a catalyst for many dealers and other businesses around the world to push forward more environmentally-friendly operations on the journey to net zero.” iOffset’s unique Offset as a Service (OaaS) model enables it to cost effectively offset any product, service or transaction in full or in part, enabling investment into accredited projects that prevent the production of an amount of CO2 equal to a product’s carbon footprint, through afforestation schemes, renewable energy and emerging technologies in carbon capture and storage. The service is built around three core pillars; Reduce individuals’ and businesses’ carbon footprint by adopting a series of simple and sustainable lifestyle choices; offset their unavoidable emissions and share the message of carbon reduction and offsetting via social media and old-fashioned word of mouth.