TMCnet News
SmartlyGreen.com: Shoppers to Earn Cash Back as They Offset Their Carbon; Smartlygreen.com introduces new loyalty model to reward shoppers who offset their carbon footprint; Appoints environmental charity PURE, the Clean Planet Trust(M2 PressWIRE Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) RDATE:15102007 New online shopping portal www.smartlygreen.com offers UK consumers the chance to progressively offset their household carbon footprints while buying their Christmas gifts, food and decorations from the likes of Marks & Spencer, Boots, Waitrose and Argos as usual this season. It won't cost shoppers a penny more, and by enrolling into the initiative they will also earn cash back. Online retail sales this Christmas are predicted to top GBP10 billion* in the UK. If just 10% of these sales were directed to leading online retailers via the smartlygreen.com site, UK shoppers could collectively offset an estimated 1.7 million tonnes of carbon. That's enough to cover the average annual footprint of about 170,000 households and fill more than 1.7 billion party balloons. Shoppers simply register with smartlygreen.com, click through to their favourite online retailers, and shop as normal. For every purchase made from one of smartlygreen.com's 150+ featured UK retailers, half of the net commission goes into a loyalty account for each shopper. Eighty per cent of this is then donated to a leading UK carbon offset scheme through environmental charity PURE, the Clean Planet Trust (Registration No. 1112249), and the remaining 20% is paid to the shopper in the form of cash. Once each shopper has reached a selected personal offset target for the year, the weighting shifts dramatically: 20% of net commissions received are donated to PURE, and 80% are paid to the shopper. To help consumers to track their personal carbon footprint reduction efforts, SmartlyGreen.com has selected five different lifestyle carbon profiles to pick as their personal target. As they shop, consumers can monitor their progress towards their personal target. On average, they can expect to offset about half a tonne of carbon for every GBP500 spent online. Harvey Jones, co-founder of SmartlyGreen.com, says: "With just one extra click, the many millions of online shoppers who feel they should be doing something to tackle carbon emissions - but aren't - can begin to make a tangible difference. We're not asking them to change their lifestyles overnight, or part with extra cash. SmartlyGreen.com is a first step to combating carbon emissions, a small detour on the way to their favourite online retailers." The funds generated for PURE are allocated to renewable energy and efficiency projects around the world which strictly adhere to the high quality international standards of the Kyoto Protocol. SmartlyGreen.com chose PURE as its offsetting partner because its emissions reduction projects are audited and verified by the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism and the UK National Energy Foundation. Other supporters of PURE include the Energy Saving Trust, the Barclaycard Breathe credit card, MAN Group PLC, Flybe, and Hewlett Packard. Phil Wolski from PURE, says: "As a registered charity with modest expenses, more of the money donated is used to combat climate change compared to many entirely commercially-focused offsetting schemes. The transparency, quality and efficiency of our programme is market-leading." Stephen Fry, patron of PURE, has said: "Join me by cutting down your household's carbon footprint, and offset what remains by donating to PURE, the Clean Planet Trust. It's the most sophisticated solution to fighting climate change." For a greener Christmas, register today, visit www.smartlygreen.com. YouGov/Logan Tod, August 2007 - Commissions will vary and will depend on the merchants, the types of goods, and any special promotions. - The price of carbon may fluctuate according to different market factors. About SmartlyGreen.com Founded by Harvey Jones and Christopher Bristow, UK-based SmartlyGreen.com is an online shopping community for consumers who wish to take the first steps to combating climate change - but aren't yet making significant lifestyle changes or spending more money. As a shopping portal, it enables consumers to offset their personal carbon footprint while they purchase food, fashion, gadgets, insurance and holidays as normal. 50% of net commissions is credited to each shopper's loyalty scheme account. Of this, 80% is donated to PURE, the first UK registered charity dedicated to combating climate change, with the balance being returned in the form of cash. Once the shopper has met her/his carbon footprint then 20% continues to be paid to PURE and the 80% is returned to the shopper. The funds paid to PURE are directed torenewable energy and efficiency projects around the world which strictly adhere to the high quality international standards of the Kyoto Protocol. About PURE PURE - the Clean Planet Trust is a UK based registered charity with the specific objective of improving air quality - so combating climate change. PURE was conceived by a group of like-minded individuals that recognised the need for cost-effective voluntary solutions to the carbon problem which extend the success of emissions trading beyond mandatory schemes. PURE's commitment to the highest quality of offsetting, retirement of regulated and properly tradeable credits and related carbon policy standards; and value and price transparency; is monitored by suitably qualified Independent Trustees. "The Government welcomes the launch of PURE's carbon offsetting scheme. The Scheme offers credits that have been generated from emissions reductions that are regulated, verified and for which there is a clear audit trail." Ian Pearson, UK Government Climate Change and Environment Minister, Nov 2006 CONTACT: Dawn Flynn, Companycare Tel: +44 (0)118 920 7670 e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.companycare.com ((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected])). Copyright 2007 M2 Communications Ltd. |