Hello, friends! As the world slowly starts to re-open (and you SAFELY, taking ALL PRECAUTIONS for distancing, sanitation etc.) I bet many of you are antsy to travel again. I certainly am; a few planned trips were cancelled as a result of COVI-19, and as disappointing as it is, I know they will happen another time AND it gives me the opportunity to investigate carbon offsetting options for my travels! That leads me to our topic for today: what are carbon offsets?
Understanding carbon credits
First things first: what is a carbon offset? To understand what an offset is, you need to know about carbon credits. A carbon “credit” is a fixed amount of carbon emissions (from travel, manufacturing, etc.) sold on a market in fixed units – usually tonnes of CO2. People purchase credits so they can produce emissions – if you purchased a credit for 10 tonnes of CO2, you can produce 10 tonnes of emissions, without being fined/facing legal repercussions. When you buy a credit, you can trade it with another party – say you buy multiple credits to account for the emissions your business will produce, only to realize that you aren’t producing as much emissions as you thought. You can sell those credits off to others that are producing more emissions than what they have credited.
What is an offset?
A carbon offset is somewhat similar to a credit in terms of the monetization of emissions. However, instead of purchasing credits or “allowances” to produce more emissions, you are counteracting emissions you have already produced or will be producing. A credit allows you to produce a fixed amount; an offset is related to what you are already producing, with no strict “requirements” on your end as the producer. Carbon credits can be a part of mandatory carbon pricing schemes that governments require, whereas carbon offsets are voluntary initiatives individuals/organizations invest in to meet legal/moral requirements.
Let’s say you take a round-trip flight from Toronto (YYZ) to Vancouver (YVR). This trip produces about half a tonne of CO2 emissions – you can use this useful ICAO emissions calculator to determine the emissions impact of any flight you take! If your vacation to Vancouver produces half a tonne of CO2 for the flight there and back, you as an individual can purchase a carbon offset credit in order to cancel out or compensate for this result. Larger organizations like corporations may purchase carbon offsets in greater amounts to compensate for a bigger carbon footprint.
What does a carbon offset looks like? When you purchase a credit for one fixed offset amount, this CO2 reduction could be represented a variety of ways through “net-positive” projects. In other words, your money is going towards a project that reduces emissions, such as tree planting, green energy projects, etc. in order to bring your net impact down to zero (or even positive).
why offset?
The concept of carbon pricing, carbon taxes and carbon offsets has been a hot topic over the last five years. This can be largely attributed to the outcomes of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) that took place in Paris, France. From this annual convention on climate change that brought together the United Nation’s 196 member parties (i.e. countries), the Paris Agreement was formed. This is a voluntary treaty to fight climate change: each member country has made an individual pledge to cut their emissions in order to meet a warming target of 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030.
Why not set the target for 0 degrees warming? Unfortunately, this is not possible given the “lag time” of global warming – we are seeing the results of our actions from years ago being expressed now, so we are “locked in” to at least 1.5 degrees of warming by 2030. The goal of the Paris Agreement is to therefore mitigate further warming above this target, which is where initiatives like carbon pricing and carbon offsets come in. Since CO2 directly contributes to the greenhouse effect (hence global warming), by reducing how much emissions we are putting into the atmosphere, we can reduce the amount of warming we experience going forward.
Note that the concept of offsetting emissions has been around since 1992 when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in Rio de Janeiro, and the first (unsuccessful) attempt at global emissions reduction through a voluntary treaty came out of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (more on this treaty here).
The goal of the Paris Agreement is to therefore mitigate further warming above this target, which is where initiatives like carbon pricing and carbon offsets come in. Since CO2 directly contributes to the greenhouse effect (hence global warming), by reducing how much emissions we are putting into the atmosphere, we can reduce the amount of warming we experience going forward. Purchasing a carbon offset is therefore a small action every one of us can do to contribute to these global efforts to fight climate change.
In addition to meeting global emissions reductions targets, carbon offsetting helps create a circular economy. If you are unfamiliar with this concept, I encourage you to check out this blog post. For a brief and very simplified explanation, a circular economy is one that circularizes the normal linear market model: resource extraction, commodity production, consumer use, waste. In a linear model, a product or service as an end-of-life. In a circular model, the waste component is reduced or removed entirely, repurposing products or improving their product so there is a constant flow of goods. It demonstrates that the market can thrive without constant growth or waste – which is beneficial for the environment, consumer and producer.
Carbon offsets fit well into this idea of a circular economy by making a market product (a credit) from waste (emissions) which is then invested in green projects or technologies. In order to balance environmental wellbeing with population growth and consumer demands, we must strive for a circular economy.
How can i purchase carbon offsets?
This is the part I had to research more, because for how much talk there is about offsetting, I haven’t found many resources that share how you can actually do it.
If you want to offset the emissions from your flight, there are third-party organizations that allow you to do so. One credible way is through Less, which is operated by the renewable energy company Bullfrog Power. Offsetting one tonne of CO2 is around $30 Canadian, which is really quite inexpensive for the impact it can have. If each person that travels through Pearson on a normal day (that’s about 130,000 passengers pre-COVID) offset just one tonne of CO2 emissions from their flight, that’s only $30 added to your travel expenses but a collective impact of 130,000 tonnes of CO2 being offset. For reference, the average personal vehicle emits 4.6 tonnes of CO2 annually; if everyone at Pearson offset one tonne of their emissions on a single day, that’s equivalent to removing over 28,000 cars from the road for a year!
how do I know this is legit?
Carbon offsetting is a controversial aspect of the carbon pricing scheme. This is mainly due to the fact that you as the carbon offset buyer cannot directly see the proof that your emissions are actually being offset. In other words, since you can’t see CO2 being produced or absorbed from the atmosphere, how can you know that your emissions are actually being offset by someone else, just because you gave them your money?
The short answer is that you will never be able to directly see the impacts of your investments, so if the transparency of this is an issue for you, carbon offsets are not going to be an action you want to pursue. That said, it does require trust in a company. Therefore, it is essential that you do your research on reliable, responsible companies. There are unfortunate stories of carbon offsetting scams, so doing your research before investing not only helps the environment – it also helps your wallet!
If you are looking to offset your next flight, or your company is looking to offset some of your industrial-size emissions, there are a few factors to consider when choosing how and where to purchase offset credits from:
Project type. What type of projects do the company conduct to offset emissions? Tree planting, renewable energy research, community efficiency initiatives? Each one has its benefits and drawbacks, so choose a company that runs projects you personally support.
Transparency. What is their offsetting process? Do they clearly outline how your actions (buying offsets) connect to their projects? Can you speak directly with the project coordinator over the phone or through email, and are they willing to answer any questions you may have? Has their company been reviewed by reliable sources?
Certified. It’s one thing to be transparent and open about your company’s process. It’s another to be backed by a credible third-party certifying organization that proves you are doing what you say you are. Look for organizations that are certified to a specific standard, such as Gold Standard or the CSA Standard. You can also look for certified projects in the GHG CleanProjects Registry, which are based on ISO 14064 standards.
Location. Where is the offsetting project taking place? If you want to see the efforts you are contributing to, locality may be something you value. Can trees be planted in your neighbour, or somewhere within a reasonable distance to you? Are you supporting local businesses?
Timeline. How long will it take for their offsetting actions to make a tangible difference? Planting trees is great, but if they are planted at a young age and take 15-20 years to reach maturation (and thus their optimal carbon sequestering state), it is going to be a long time before your emissions are offset. According to trees.org, it takes approximately 10-15 mature trees to offset one tonne of CO2, so if you are only planting one or two trees it will take even longer.
final thoughts
All in all, carbon offsetting is something that anyone and everyone can do to fight climate change. You may not physically see the difference your actions are making, but if you work with a reliable carbon offsetting company, the single action of offsetting even one tonne of CO2 amounts to massive emissions reductions as more people invest in similar green markets.
The carbon market – carbon pricing, taxes, offsetting – often gets a bad rap. After all, why are we still investing in (some might say even encouraging) the use of fossil fuels? The way I see it, carbon markets are not the be-all end-all solution to climate change – far from it. They are flawed. However, in a world still so centred around burning fossil fuel, with decades of infrastructure, markets and entire communities based around oil extraction, we cannot simply snap our fingers and expect things to change quickly. Easing ourselves off of the use of fossil fuels is a slow, rigorous process, one that requires incentive and new markets to appease our capitalist societies. Therefore, carbon markets and carbon offsets are not the solution to climate change. Rather, they are a means to finding a solution, a way we can all take action with the resources and institutions currently available to us, in hopes of someday fostering a greener, brighter future.
Resources for more information
For more on carbon pricing and the carbon markets behind climate action, check out these posts I created as part of a climate change mini-series:
- Part One: What is Climate Change?
- Part Two: Canadian Politics, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement
- Part Three: Carbon Pricing
Here are some awesome resources beyond CTA I encourage you to check out to learn more about carbon offsets, carbon markets and their connection to climate action:
- For a more in-depth explanation on carbon offsetting, check out my girl Emily’s blog post from Avocados and Airplanes.
- This guide produced by the World Wildlife Fund provides a full comparison of offset standards and breaks down the terminology used when understanding carbon credits.
- The David Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute also put together a useful consumer’s guide for purchasing carbon offsets.
- The United Nations has put together a database of carbon offsetting projects by UN region, which you can explore for legitimacy.
For more from CTA on climate change, check out these posts:
If you enjoyed this post or have any thoughts on carbon offsets that you’d like to share (or have experience purchasing offsets), let me know in the comments!
Until next time.
