THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Shell is offering consumers the ability to offset carbon from their fuel purchases. The oil giant is introducing a program in the Netherlands that will apply carbon credits toward customers’ purchases of Shell V-Power gasoline or diesel.
Shell will invest in forest replanting and protection efforts to help offset the emissions from the fuel purchase. Each carbon credit represents the removal of 1 ton of carbon from the atmosphere, according to Shell.
Customers who buy regular-grade gasoline, diesel or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) can participate in the program for an additional 1 cent per liter, or sign up for Shell’s Miles & Me rewards program to earn free carbon credits.
Shell plans to roll out the carbon-credit program to other countries, with the United Kingdom up next in late 2019.
In a blog post on LinkedIn, Istvan Kapitany, executive vice president of retail for Royal Dutch Shell, The Hague, explained that Shell already offers carbon offsetting to its business and fleet customers in many European countries and Hong Kong. It extended the program to consumers after a successful pilot in Hungary.
“The responses were great,” Kapitany said. “One customer said, ‘this is such an easy thing to do, knowing that only a few of my pennies will help with the environment when I fill up my car'.”
In offering carbon offsets for the purchase of gasoline or diesel, Shell joins other programs such as Green Gas, which gives consumers the ability to make a small donation at the pump to offset their carbon emissions, and GreenPrint, which offers retailer-fronted carbon-offsetting programs in the United States and overseas.
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