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"Carbon offsets" and "carbon-neutral" are phrases you'll hear getting tossed around a lot these days, but whether they're actually all cracked up to be is another bone of contention. All human activity produces emissions of carbon dioxide, that big, bad heat-trapping gas that we're spewing out in quantities greater than all the world's forests and oceans can absorb each year. The more polluting your activity, say driving your fuel-guzzling SUV across the country or flying in a private jet from Maine to São Paulo, the more emissions you generate.
The growing number of organizations selling carbon offsets are essentially selling peace of mind. Online calculators can help you estimate the amount of carbon dioxide your jetsetting or road-warrior habits are responsible for contributing to the global equation, and then figure out the amount of money needed to neutralize an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, whether it's through planting a few acres of trees or by funding renewable-energy projects such as wind, solar, geothermal, or biomass. But these transactions are not without its critics.The naysayers regard carbon offsets as a carte blanche for heavy polluters to do as they please, without making any actual efforts to cut down their own emissions of carbon dioxide.
Now part of a $100-million-per-year (and counting) industry, an increasing number of businesses, luxury airlines, transport fleets, political campaigns, and even entertainment awards shows, are declaring themselves carbon-neutral.
Because this voluntary carbon-slashing operation remains largely unregulated-or in the case of trading schemes such as the Chicago Climate Exchange, self-regulated-environmentalists remain divided on the subject. Some believe it helps build support for renewable energy; others assert that tree-planting is ineffective, while warning of shady operators who prey on people's guilt but don't do anything that can be verified as being meaningful.
To ensure that your financial support results in a net improvement in the climate, make sure that the emissions reductions you're paying for happens in addition to "business as usual." This concept of "additionality" applies to projects that would still have happened without the extra funding from the sale of carbon credits.
Clean Air Cool Planet, a New England-based nonprofit dedicated to the science of climate change, has published A Consumer's Guide to Carbon Offsets for Carbon Neutrality. The questions you can ask your offset company include:
1. Do your offsets result from specific projects?
2. Do you use an objective standard to ensure the additionality and quality of the offsets you sell?
3. How do you demonstrate that the projects in your portfolio would not have happened without the greenhouse gas offset market?
4. Have your offsets been validated against a third-party standard by a credible source?
5. Do you sell offsets that will actually accrue in the future? If so, how long into the future, and can you explain why you need to "forward sell" the offsets?
6. Can you demonstrate that your offsets are not sold to multiple buyers?
7. What are you doing to educate your buyers about climate change and the need for climate change policy?
These myriad concerns have also led to the development of an international third-party certification label known as The Gold Standard, which ensures that projects bearing its stamp have met strict environmental criteria. Green-e, a renewable-energy certification and verification program administered by the San Francisco, Calif.-based Center for Resource Solutions, offers another trusted stamp of approval.
For a blow by blow of what happens in the carbon-offset industry, mosey on over to TreeHugger.
Difficulty level: Moderate
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