Vebnet, the Edinburgh-based employee benefits software group, has launched the first scheme enabling employees to offset their individual carbon emissions through their payroll.

Vebnet has teamed up with PURE - the Clean Planet Trust charity - to create the initiative which has already been adop- ted for 10,000 staff by Centrica.

The software group says 250,000 employees from its 170 client organisations can now sign up for the scheme and "help combat climate change directly through their monthly pay".

Individuals can calculate carbon emissions online and compensate the environment for their own carbon dioxide pollution by "giving as they earn" through their flexible benefits programme provided by their employer.

PURE says: "Employees can calculate their carbon footprint with a link to PURE technology, and then choose to offset all or part of it in monthly payments from their pay, in a tax-efficient way, through their employer's use of Vebnet's flexible benefit technology."

It says that at today's prices, £5 per month from every employee already signed up in the flexible benefits programmes would eliminate over one million tonnes of emissions in one year.

PURE, the first UK charity dedicated to combating climate change by carbon offsetting, uses donations to buy, and then cancel or "retire", carbon credits in projects with Kyoto-approved, genuinely reduced carbon emissions.

Marcus Underhill, head of flexible benefits at Vebnet, commented: "Companies are under increasing pressure to make interventions when it comes to staff environmental activity. Now, they can take the lead with this easy process that supports their own corporate responsibility initiatives and help ensure benefits are linked to a social conscience. Also, this can be used as a salary-sacrifice scheme so organisations can gain maximum tax attractiveness on green contributions."