Carbon Avoidance vs Offset
MOSS™ is an avoided carbon emission not an offset
The government’s business 'greening' strategy has added a new category of ‘avoided’ emissions for reused ICT (Information and Communications Technology) equipment, which includes the servers used in CCTV applications. This applies to VMS Co.’s renewed MOSS™ servers, whether purchased or on subscription.
This new category contributes a significantly larger carbon reductions gain over ‘offsetting’ and shows the government is prioritising the reuse of ICT equipment over new.
Mandatory carbon accounting
The government is also making it mandatory to account for the different emission types within a business, separating avoidance from offsetting, starting with government agencies. It actively encourages ICT reuse and will have a huge, positive, environmental impact, reducing waste, heavy use of natural resources, and unnecessary landfill.
Carbon emissions by category
| ICT Device type | Reused MOSS (kg CO₂e) | New baseline (kg CO₂e) |
|---|---|---|
|
Monitor |
20 - 50 |
150 - 300 |
|
Laptop |
30 - 70 |
250 - 400 |
|
Workstation |
50 - 100 |
300 - 600 |
|
Server |
200–500 |
1,000 – 3,000+ |
The table shows the carbon emissions figures typically attributed to reused equipment, compared with baseline, new ICT equipment.
How it works
For reused ICT equipment, such as MOSS™ servers, there is now a value attributed to enable the calculation of avoided emissions. In the table, where new servers might have emissions of between 1,000 and 3,000 kg CO₂e attributed, reused ones are 200–500 kg CO₂e.
Example: Where a company was procuring fifty new servers.
The baseline of carbon emissions is 150,000 kg CO₂e (50 x 3000 kg CO₂e).
The MOSS renewed servers carbon emissions is 25,000 kg CO₂e (50 x 500 kg CO₂e).
The saving is 125,000 kg CO₂e in avoided emissions, which is more than 80%. For context, recycling those same servers would only contribute 4%.
How in works in accounts
The guidelines indicate that a company states both the new and reused emissions for like-for-like ICT equipment separately, rather than state the calculated final figure. So in the example of 50 servers from above, the company would state:
- Baseline carbon emissions for 50x servers at 3000 kg CO₂e each = 150,000 kg CO₂e
- The carbon emissions for 'like-for-like' for 50x MOSS reused servers at 500 kg CO₂e = 25,000 kg CO₂e
The company does not claim the avoided emissions at 125,000 kg CO₂e in the accounts, but instead provides the information to make the calculation.