Playing for the good

The carbon lottery is one of the most innovative offsetting schemes the world has seen, and I recently took part in a webinar on this relatively new program to learn more about it. Basically, for a £2 ticket, you can help tackle climate change and stand a chance of winning a bucket load of cash and prizes.

How it works

You choose your numbers online, before calculating your carbon footprint. You are then told how many lottery tickets you can buy to offset your personal emissions. Each ticket is worth 100kg of CO2, which means that the average UK citizen would have to buy two tickets a week to live a carbon neutral lifestyle. Over half of the ticket price goes to providing the prize pool to pay out the Lottery prizes and the remainder goes into the cost of sourcing, assessing, negotiating and purchasing the best community-based offset credits across the globe.

How your business can get involved

You could start a lottery pool at the office, where staff each put in a certain amount per week or month. You could choose a set of numbers as a group, which you will pick every time you play. And if the pool wins, you share the prize equally. It’s a fun way for your business to get involved in helping the environment.

Remember that everyone should put in exactly the same amount. No one should have a greater share just because they had more money in their wallet that day. This should be as uncomplicated as possible, which is why getting it in writing is important. There are many lottery pool agreements on the internet to choose from, here’s a basic example. 

The Carbon Lottery is a brilliant, simple and rewarding way to make a difference. It brings with it the potential to create awareness, as well as the possibility of winning cash and prizes, win-win! Let’s hope it’s a success, and is rolled out in other countries as well.

To find out more, visit the Carbon Lottery’s website, or follow them on Twitter.

You can also watch this introductory video, which will tell you everything you need to know. 

Candice Reichlin

Web Content Manager at green24