The first of our articles on carbon offsetting this year focuses on Aviva's signature project in Sichuan Province, China.
The run-of-river hydropower
project in China.
Aviva was the first insurer, in 2006, to became carbon neutral in respect of its global emissions.
This means that Aviva offsets all of its unavoidable carbon dioxide emissions, which arise from energy used in its buildings and business travel.
This year we have once again chosen to work with ClimateCare to purchase the majority of Aviva's offsetting credits.
Run-of-river hydropower in China
The first of our articles on carbon offsetting this year focuses on Aviva's signature project in Sichuan Province, China.
This area was near to the earthquake which devastated so much of China, but fortunately the site was not damaged in any way.
This project delivers renewable electricity to Yonghong town in the Sichuan province by way of a run-of-river hydropower plant.
This is classed as small-scale hydropower and is free of some of negative environmental impacts associated with large scale hydropower generation.
It does not use a dam to create power, but uses the natural river flow on the Yinhe river, leaving the natural environment intact. The water is used to power a generator to produce electricity, which is then fed back to the local grid.
The project will achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions by avoiding CO2 that would otherwise be emitted from fossil-fuel-fired power plants connected into the regional grid supply.
The project provides 59GWh of electricity a year, the equivalent of enough power to supply 18,000 UK households.
As well as supplying a clean form of electricity to the local grid and reducing reliance on fossil fuels, this project has provided employment for the community in the construction, installation and ongoing operation of the plant.
This project is verified to the Voluntary Carbon Standard. This means that we know that emissions are unique, only assigned to Aviva and used once. Additionally, they would not occur without our funding.
Aviva believes that offsetting is an extra step we can take in reducing our impact on the environment, as well as having positive development and sustainability benefits in the developing world.