Carbon Offset with Telstra

The idea behind carbon offsetting is that you can balance out the impact of carbon emissions on the environment by supporting projects that will avoid, reduce or remove an equivalent of those emissions from the atmosphere. 

For example, the average mobile phone generates roughly between 57-117kg of carbon emissions throughout its lifecycle. That includes manufacturing, transport, use and disposal. While you can reduce some of those emissions by using your phone less or by trading it in so it can be recycled, you can’t completely avoid them (unless you don’t buy a phone at all, but then how would you watch cute animal videos?) 

To help soften the impact of emissions you can’t avoid, you can support accredited climate projects (in this case by using your Telstra Plus points) that avoid, reduce or remove emissions from the atmosphere.

No. To be able to say you are carbon neutral, you need to be able to first measure your emissions, reduce those emissions as much as possible through actions you take, and then offset any emissions you are unable to avoid. 

So while you can use your Telstra Plus points support climate projects and help to offset emissions, the amount of those offsets will not necessarily equate to the emissions created by your everyday life. But every little bit helps.

The amount of Telstra Plus points you need to redeem depends on the cost of the carbon credits that each project issues.

International carbon credits are typically cheaper than Australian carbon credits because the demand for carbon credits and the supply of credits available for purchase vary between countries and regions.

While their prices may differ, you can rest assured that the projects supported and credits purchased from both International and Australian Projects are consistent with the Australian government’s Climate Active program guidelines (PDF, 835KB).

Just like any other product in the Telstra Plus store, Telstra will convert the Telstra Plus points you redeem into a dollar amount, which we’ll use to support certified carbon offset projects.

We’ll do this by retiring carbon credits from the selected carbon offset projects. The carbon credits we retire may be carbon credits we’ve already purchased or will purchase for the purpose of Offset with Telstra.

No. Because Telstra purchases the carbon credits, they’ll be registered in the name of Telstra.  Even though the carbon credits are registered to Telstra, they don’t contribute to Telstra’s climate commitments or carbon neutral status. You will not own or have any right or interest in the carbon credits.

No, your support will not contribute to Telstra’s climate commitments or count towards Telstra’s carbon neutral status.

This is simply a way for you to support carbon offset projects to help offset emissions you are unable to avoid in everyday life.

Yes, you can redeem your Telstra Plus points for more than one offset, depending on how many Telstra Plus points you have available.

You won’t be able to use your Telstra Plus points to offset more than the amounts listed in a single transaction, however you can always make multiple and separate redemptions to offset a higher amount.

When you offset with Telstra Plus, we may choose to purchase and retire a variety of different carbon credits.

For International Projects, the carbon credits that will be retired may include:

• Verified Carbon Units (VCU)
• Certified Emissions Reduction units (CER)
• other emission or environmental initiatives

to meet the offset amount you've chosen.

For Australian Projects, the carbon credits that will be retired may include:

• Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU)
• other emission or environmental initiatives

to meet the offset amount you've chosen.

While we can't guarantee exactly what projects will be supported or type of credits will be retired when you offset with Telstra Plus, we can guarantee that the carbon credits for both International and Australian Projects are consistent with Australian government's Climate Active program guidelines (PDF, 835KB).