UK First As Hull-based Car Retailer Partners With Carbon Offset Service

Hull-based national car retailer, Motor Depot, has partnered with carbon streaming service, iOffset, for a ground-breaking initiative which will see the dealer offset the projected future emissions of every used car sold for the first year of ownership.

In a UK first for the motor industry, all used cars sold at Motor Depot showrooms across the country and through CarSupermarket.com will have their emissions offset by the Offset as a Service (OaaS) platform, which has been endorsed by the United Nations Climate Change panel.

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 the impact of their emissions.

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.

This year carbon emissions have undergone the sharpest drop since records began, putting climate change and sustainable practices firmly on the business agenda as lockdown restrictions ease and organisations embark on the ‘new normal’.

Steve Butterley, Managing Director of Motor Depot, said: “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, as a UK industry first.”

Mark Hammond, Founder of iOffset, is encouraging other businesses and industries to examine their practices and how they can reduce or 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.”