Its common knowledge that the biggest contribution we make to destabilising the planet's climate is through flying. If a person takes a one-way flight to Florida from say London they will emit more greenhouse gases than the average SUV driver in a year. You could cycle, recycle and use energy-saving light bulbs for the rest of your life, but it would be all cancelled out by a single weekend break by the beach.

Today there is a plethora of dodgy websites out there that promise to wipe your conscience clean after every flight. You emitted four tonnes of greenhouse gases flying to Rio? Don’t worry, we'll plant enough trees to absorb four tonnes back - just click here.

At Edenbee we believe that offsetting is not the answer however the question needs to be asked about business flights, those of us who are in some way forced to fly because of work commitments. We may in our personal life object to taking a host of flights for pleasure but because of the global nature of business today some of us simply have to fly.

So if you are forced to fly as part of your work, who should pick up the tab, you or your employer? I believe it should be your employer and they should also be supporting projects in developing countries that focus on providing new sources of renewable energy and in promoting energy-efficiency schemes. That said this is not as easy as it sounds as outline by Nick Davies in his article for the Guardian last year The inconvenient truth about the carbon offset industry which showed how greenhouse gas credits do little or nothing to combat global warming.

But people are and will continue to fly for the foreseeable future and if there are properly certified and continually regulated schemes out there perhaps the poorer developing nations could benefit. Today for example I just came across girleffect.org a powerful website that seeks to create opportunities for girls in the developing world and Kiva.org the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. Perhaps schemes like this could benefit from the offsetting cash? Whereby the money to is both channel into accredited renewable energy schemes and initiatives like these?

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