Many human activities contribute to climate change. Flying, driving, heating and powering our homes and workplaces all burn fossil fuels and this releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.

There are now many companies that, for a small payment, will reduce an amount of CO2 equivalent to that which your activity releases.  This is known as ?carbon offsetting?.  Offsetting your ?carbon footprint? complements efforts to reduce it. It is a key tool for building carbon-responsibility into everyday life.

These CO2 offset companies don't  actually reduce the amount of greenhouse gas that you produce, only you can do that.  What they do is develop and run a huge range of projects that 'offsets' your emissions. 

These projects can be in:

• Renewable energy ? this replaces non-renewable fuel such as coal, oil or gas.
  
• Energy efficiency ? this reduces the amount of fuel needed.
• Forest restoration ? this absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere as the trees grow.

One UK based carbon offsetting company, Climate Care,  run projects that include restoring rain forests in Uganda.  Each hectare of rainforest that is restored is expected to absorb 400 tonnes of CO2. That?s equivalent to the annual emissions from 80 average sized UK homes.  Another project that they run is to introduce school stoves that run off a new renewable fuel source. Crop waste is being used to make biomass briquettes for the stoves, providing an extra income to farmers. This project is expected to save 11,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.  That?s equivalent to 7,000 fewer return trips from London to New York.

Projects that other offsetting companies like The Carbon Neutral Company  run include; switching boilers from oil to woodchip fuel in Scotland; installing solar lighting systems in India and Sri Lanka; and micro-hydro systems in Bulgaria. 

And you can probably guess the type of projects that UK based Grow a Forest offset your carbon emmissions against!

Most offset company websites include calculators to work out and offset emissions from people?s home energy use, driving and flights or from your business, meaning that you can easily see just how much CO2 release that you are responsible for, and therefore how much it will cost to offset your emissions.

If you don?t live in the UK, you can still offset your carbon dioxide emissions:

Renewable Choice  are a US based and run wind power offsets for private individuals and businesses.  TerraPass funds go directly to carbon-reducing energy projects across the US.

Offsets made easy:

The World Land Trust has set up a text message CO2 offset service, so now you can offset the carbon dioxide emissions that you are responsible for on the move, with your mobile phone.  Every  text will offset 140kgs of CO2 with the World Land Trust's Carbon Balanced Programme. 

NEW: Offset your visit to our website

• Create a user account to add your own green articles and ethical product news. It's fast, free and your personal information will not be shared. For every published article you send you'll offset a whopping 20kg of CO2!
  
• Submit your green, ethical or fairtrade website links to the Ecotivity Directory and offset 2kg of CO2. 
• Subscribe to the ecotivity newsletter and offset a full 1kg of CO2.

*Carbon offsets to be provided by Climate Care. All links and articles subject to approval by our editors. For verification of offsets , please contact us.

---

Comments (2) >>

Show/Hide comments

Ron Mexico said:

What a bunch of fraudulent horsesh**, lol. Carbon offsets, my ***. Just a way for the rich so called "evironmentalists" to justify their private jets and multiple mansions and still claim to be "carbon neutral" . Sc*** that.

February 07, 2007

E. D. Stein said:

Carbon offsets are a good idea for a number of reasons. First, if nothing else, they provide needed funds for alternative energy projects - to give them the boost they need to compete with cheap conventional fuels. Second, tree planting (anywhere where trees are naturally found) is a good thing, especially in the tropics. Third, buying up carbon emission credits and retiring them positively influences the carbon trading market, which will hopefully soon become mandatory rather than voluntary. If "rich so called environmentalists" want to pay to keep flying planes, something they'd do anyway, I think its great to put their money to good use. Eventually the price of fuel and carbon emission credits will ground their aircraft.

February 08, 2007

Write comment

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Title

Comment

Add Comment