LONDON: A British parking platform has launched what it says is the world's first carbon-neutral car park of its kind, fully offsetting carbon emissions from drivers parking at the premises.
The parking platform YourParkingSpace and its partner, sustainability experts Circular Ecology, say the space is achieving this carbon-neutral status by sourcing an equivalent amount of carbon savings from other environmental projects.
The car park, which is also run using 100-per-cent renewable energy, is sited at YourParkingSpace's London-based office in the city's Docklands district.
Car park managers around the world have already been trying to reduce the carbon footprint of parking by subtracting the number of bays available for cars or, as in London, by charging parked vehicles based on their level of carbon emissions.
In order to calculate the car park's total carbon emissions engineers assessed the average distance driven by motorists to and from the car park, as well as established emissions data for each vehicle, along with typical occupancy levels of the car park.
The emissions will be offset with Gold Standard carbon credits, a World Wildlife Federation (WWF) programme which the platform said enables projects that offset carbon emissions.
Critics say that since a large number of cars in urban areas are merely searching for a space to stop, and drivers circling while looking for a free parking space are contributing greatly to the environmental pollution at any given location.
