offsets from Australian carbon emissions reduction projects. The Government has committed a total of $4.55 billion to the Fund. In the UK: Quality Assurance Standard for Carbon Offsetting (QAS) In an effort to inform and safeguard business and household consumers purchasing Carbon Offsets, in 2009, the UK Government has launched a scheme for regulating Carbon offset products. DEFRA have created the "Approved Carbon Offsetting" brand to use as an endorsement on offsets approved by the UK government. The Scheme sets standards for best practice in offsetting. Approved offsets have to demonstrate the following criteria: Accurate calculation of emissions to be offset Use of good quality carbon credits i.e. initially those that are Kyoto compliant Cancellation of carbon credits within a year of the consumers purchase of the offset Clear and transparent pricing of the offset Provision of information about the role of offsetting in tackling climate change and advice on how a consumer can reduce his or her carbon footprint The first company to qualify for the scheme was Clear, followed by Carbon Footprint, Carbon Passport, Pure, British Airways and Carbon Retirement Ltd. On 20 May 2011 the Department of Energy and Climate Change announced that the Quality Assurance Scheme would close on 30 June 2011. The stated purpose of the Quality Assurance Scheme was 'to provide a straightforward route for those wishing to offset their emissions to identify quality offsets'. Critics of the closure therefore argued that without the scheme, businesses and individuals would struggle to identify quality carbon offsets. In 2012 the scheme was relaunched as the Quality Assurance Standard (QAS). The QAS is now run independently by Quality Assurance Standard Ltd which is a company limited by guarantee based in the United Kingdom. The Quality Assurance Standard is an independent audit system for carbon offsets, assessing multiple criteria. Approved offsets are checked against a 40-point checklist. On 17 July 2012, the first organisations were approved as meeting the new QAS. Controversies Carbon equivalences There is a longstanding social-science critique of "making things the same" in the realm of carbon accounting. For most carbon offsetting schemes the framework "a ton is a ton" is applied. This means that a ton of carbon released in the atmosphere is treated as equivalent to a ton of carbon removed from the atmosphere. While this simplification is useful in carbon accounting and for the creation of carbon budgets, it becomes misleading when