Climate Change: Go Carbon Neutral

Using Carbon Offsets to Neutralize Your Emissions

Climate change is a serious problem, caused primarily by the carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels like oil, coal, and gas. But there are things we can do about it - like choosing to go carbon neutral.

Going carbon neutral is an easy way to take responsibility for the greenhouse gas emissions we create every time we drive our cars, take a plane, or turn on our computers. It's based on the principle that, since climate change is a global problem, an emission reduction made elsewhere has the same positive effect as one made locally.

Here's how it works: if you add polluting emissions to the atmosphere, you can effectively subtract them by purchasing 'carbon offsets'. Carbon offsets are simply credits for emission reductions achieved by projects elsewhere, such as wind farms, solar installations, or energy efficiency projects. By purchasing these credits, you can apply them to your own emissions and reduce your net climate impact.

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Why Go Carbon Neutral?

To solve the problem of climate change, we all need to take account of our personal carbon emissions and make continued efforts to reduce them wherever possible. But it is impossible to reduce our carbon emissions to zero, no matter how hard we try. Going carbon neutral by purchasing carbon offsets is a practical and affordable way to do something about those remaining emissions.

In addition, by voluntarily calculating and assigning a cost to your carbon emissions, you can begin to prepare for the inevitability of an economy in which carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are regulated and taxed. Whether you are a business or an individual, this is an important step towards managing your carbon emissions efficiently and identifying potential for reductions and savings.

Purchasing high quality carbon offsets from projects such as wind farms also helps support the transition to a sustainable energy economy by providing an additional source of revenue to developers of renewable energy.

While voluntary offset programs should not be seen as a substitute for comprehensive government regulations to reduce greenhouse gases (e.g. through implementation of the Kyoto Protocol), they are a step in the right direction, and an opportunity to demonstrate leadership on climate change.

Carbon offsets also offer flexibility, as you can choose to offset just one - or all - of your major emission sources. For example, you can purchase carbon offsets to mitigate the emissions from your air travel, automobile use, or home heating. If you wish to offset the emissions from electricity, you can use either carbon offsets or a special product known as a "Renewable Energy Certificate" (REC), which is like purchasing renewable energy.

Reprinted with permission from the David Suzuki Foundation.

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How to go carbon neutral

It's easy to go carbon neutral. Just follow the steps below:

1)The first and most important step is to reduce your emissions as much as possible - for example, by switching off the lights when not in use, turning down the thermostat, driving less, taking vacations closer to home so you don't need to fly as much, etc. See the 'Resources' section for tips to reduce your energy use. Each tonne of emissions that you reduce means one fewer tonne you need to buy offsets to neutralize.

2) Choose which remaining emissions you wish to offset. For example, you might want to start with just your air travel, or an event you are organizing such as a wedding. Or you may choose to offset all of your major sources of emissions, like air travel, driving, and home electricity use.

3) Calculate your emissions. To do this, choose an appropriate online carbon calculator for each of the emissions you have identified in (2) from the 'Resources' section. Some carbon calculators are specific for just one emission source like air travel; others will allow you to calculate the emissions from more than one source. Note you can use any of these calculators without making a purchase. It should also be noted that some carbon calculators will give slightly different results; this is because different methodologies may be used (e.g. factoring in all greenhouse gases released during air travel vs. just the CO2). Don't worry too much about this when selecting a calculator; the point is to get some sense of the emissions you're responsible for.

4) Once you know how many tonnes of emissions you produce, you can then purchase the necessary offsets. There are many vendors online that sell offsets; see the 'Resources' section below for a list of some vendors that can be found online. There is some variability in price depending on the vendor you choose (and whether it's a charity or a for-profit company), and the type of offsets they sell. But as with any purchase, it's important to consider the quality of the offsets you support, rather than simply looking for the cheapest option. See our What is a Carbon Offset page for things you should look for when shopping for offsets.

5) Review your strategy annually. This will include finding ways to reduce your emissions even more. Also, if you started with just one emission source (e.g. air travel), you may choose to broaden your approach and look at other emissions you generate.

Reprinted with permission from the David Suzuki Foundation.

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What is a carbon offset?

A “carbon offset” is an emission reduction credit from another organization’s project that results in less carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere than would otherwise occur. Carbon offsets are typically measured in tons of CO2-equivalents (or 'CO2e') and are bought and sold through a number of international brokers, online retailers, and trading platforms.

For example, wind energy companies often sell carbon offsets. The wind energy company benefits because the carbon offsets it sells make such projects more economically viable. The buyers of the offsets benefit because they can claim that their purchase resulted in new non-polluting energy, which they can use to mitigate their own greenhouse gas emissions. The buyers may also save money as it may be less expensive for them to purchase offsets than to eliminate their own emissions.

Many types of activities can generate carbon offsets. Renewable energy such as the wind farm example above, or installations of solar, small hydro, geothermal, and biomass energy can all create carbon offsets by displacing fossil fuels. Other types of offsets available for sale on the market include those resulting from energy efficiency projects, methane capture from landfills or livestock, destruction of potent greenhouse gases such as halocarbons, and carbon sequestration projects (such as reforestation) that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Why some carbon offsets are better than others

As with any purchase, buyers need to choose their offsets carefully. For example, although quite popular, selling offsets from tree planting projects is particularly problematic for a number of reasons, including their lack of permanence and the fact that these projects do not address our dependence on fossil fuels.

Similarly, offset projects involving the destruction of halocarbon gases such as HFC-23 have sustained numerous criticisms, including the fact that they actually result in a perverse incentive (due to the sheer volume of offsets - and profits - that they generate) for more of the ozone-depleting gas to be created. The price of offsets from these projects is also so low (due to the very high global warming potential of the gas) that they tend to flood the market and squeeze out more sustainable offset projects, like solar and wind.

Another important issue to consider when purchasing offsets is 'additionality'. An offset project is considered additional if it isn't business as usual. Typically this means that the project wouldn't have happened without the extra funding from the sale of offsets. Additionality is extremely important, as the entire concept of offsetting - i.e. purchasing greenhouse gas reduction credits from a project elsewhere to neutralize one's own emissions - is based on the premise that those reductions wouldn't have happened otherwise. Only by buying offsets that have met additionality criteria can you be assured that your purchase is resulting in a net benefit for the climate.

Clean Air Cool Planet has published a Consumer's Guide to Carbon Offsets for Carbon Neutrality that lists some some questions that potential buyers can ask of offset vendors:

• Do your offsets result from specific projects?
• Do you use an objective standard to ensure the additionality and quality of the offsets you sell?
• How do you demonstrate that the projects in your portfolio would not have happened without the greenhouse gas offset market?
• Have your offsets been validated against a third-party standard by a credible source?
• 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?
• Can you demonstrate that your offsets are not sold to multiple buyers?
• What are you doing to educate your buyers about climate change and the need for climate change policy?

The Gold Standard for carbon offsets

Because of the above concerns, an international standard for carbon offsets was developed to differentiate high quality offsets. Known as The Gold Standard, it ensures that key environmental criteria have been met by offset projects that carry its label. Significantly, only offsets from energy efficiency and renewable energy projects qualify for the Gold Standard, as these projects encourage a shift away from fossil fuel use and carry inherently low environmental risks. Tree planting projects are explicitly excluded by The Gold Standard.

Gold Standard projects must meet very high additionality criteria to ensure that they contribute to the adoption of additional sustainable energy projects, rather than simply funding existing projects. The Gold Standard also includes social indicators to ensure the offset project contributes to sustainable development goals in the country where the project is based.

Finally, all Gold Standard projects have been independently verified by a third party to ensure integrity.

Reprinted with permission from the David Suzuki Foundation.

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Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)

Buying RECs is like Using Green Power

One of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions is electricity generation. By choosing to buy green power from your local utility, you can lower your greenhouse gas emissions dramatically.

However, if green power is not yet available in your area, you can still offset your electricity use by purchasing what are known as 'renewable energy certificates' (RECs). Also known as 'green tags' or 'tradable renewable certificates', RECs represent the environmental attributes associated with renewable electricity such as wind and solar. They are typically sold in kilowatt-hours or megawatt-hours. While RECs are not electricity per se, they have the same environmental effect as buying green electricity.

Here's how it works. For every unit of electricity generated from a renewable energy project, there is a corresponding REC that can be sold. While utility customers cannot dictate which electrons they receive (since electricity from both conventional and renewable energy projects are mixed on the grid), they can choose where their money goes. By purchasing RECs, customers can choose to support clean, renewable energy. The money generated by the sale of RECs goes to new and existing renewable energy facilities, thus providing a financial incentive for developers to build more renewable energy projects.

Reprinted with permission from the David Suzuki Foundation.

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