How Do Offset Projects Work?
If you use offsets to counterbalance your own carbon footprint, you have provided an incentive for someone else to take actions that reduce emissions by the same amount as you have created.
While it's often hard to find an explanation of how offsets work that uses simple illustrative examples, in fact the underlying concept is quite intuitive and a longstanding part of our society. A farmer might find it hard to build a home, but will gladly pay a carpenter to do it. A mason might wish to pay the farmer for his eggs rather than raise his own chickens.
And a businessman might find it hard to avoid regular airline flights, but will gladly contribute to funding a team of engineers installing a system that captures waste heat from a factory and uses it to heat local homes.
Or perhaps you might consume electricity, but by purchasing offsets you provide funds for a wind energy farm that would otherwise have been unprofitable to build, and you've prevented the emissions that come from coal or gas power plants.
Carbon offsets are measured in tons of carbon dioxide (C02) equivalent, and are traded on via a variety of exchanges and markets around the world. For a more detailed explanation of the different types of offset projects, and the standards and criteria we use to evaluate the projects we retired on your behalf, check out our portfolio page.
Source Reduction: Preventing greenhouse gases from ever being emitted, by increasing efficiency, reducing energy use, or converting to renewable energy.
Sequestration: Finding ways to take existing green house gases and covert them into a form of carbon that’s no longer in the atmosphere. These can range from from tree planting to capture of methane in agricultural environments.
Renewable Power: Hydroelectric, Solar, Wind, Geothermal
Fuel: Efficiency (less fuel for the same results) and Substitution (alternate fuel with lower carbon emissions).
Efficient Lighting: Replacing traditional sources such as incandescent with fluorescent or LED technology.
CoGeneration/Heat Capture: Generating electricity and heat together in a more efficient facility, or capturing heat that's a byproduct of industrial processes for use in heating or generation.
Forestation: Planting trees which absorb carbon through photosynthesis. Such projects are difficult to certify and controversial due to long timelines, though concept is sound under strict conditions.
Efficient Structures: Environmental and carbon-conscious building practices, ranging from insulation to green roofs. The LEED certification process is widely known in this area.
Public Transportation: Encouraging more efficient methods of travel, with lower emissions per passenger-mile.
This is a question that comes up often, and takes many forms: Why shouldn't I stop taking plane flights, drive an electric car, or install solar panels to power my home?
There's a simple way to answer this: In short, you should do all these things, as much as you're able. Conservation is an essential part of addressing climate change. Everything from better insulation for your home to more fuel efficient cars or appliances makes a difference. There are a tremendous number of resources with tips and information on how to reduce your footprint. Here's just one example.
But the thoughtful environmentalist knows that the question makes little sense. Promoting both conservation and offsets doesn't create any conflict at all. In fact:
Carbon offset projects are indistinguishable from conservation.
That's as long as we pay attention to the only judge that matters, our planet. The atmosphere doesn't know or care who is emitting greenhouse gasses, the only metric that matters at all is how much of these gasses are in the atmosphere.
It's a key reason we're such passionate advocates for offset projects.
In under a century the sheer power of demand caused hundreds of thousands of holes to be drilled into the earth in a desperate hunt for oil. Markets are incredibly powerful, and incredibly fast.
The current crisis we face is a direct result, and the atmosphere doesn't know or care if it was Saudi Arabian or Texan oil that was burned a decade ago to generate a given ton of C02, the problem we face is the same. Likewise, the atmosphere doesn't care whether you reduce greenhouse gas emissions by driving less or funding clean technology, but it matters tremendously that you've made a decision to live carbon neutral.
But back to markets. We believe that the same market-driven forces that got us into this situation can be equally powerful, and fast, when put to work on creating solutions.
Our future depends on getting this right, which is why we hope you'll join us as a member, working with the Belgrave Trust and supporting an actively managed offset portfolio that's focused on the one metric that matters -- reducing the number of tons of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
Help us create real change, and join a community that solves the climate change crisis, permanently.