Carbon offsetting made easy

When Carrie flew to Montenegro in May for the Green Culture Festival she offsetting four tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. There are a number of organisations offering carbon offsetting but after liaising with other climate leaders   Carrie chose www.carbonfootprint.com .

Flying creates a lot of climate-changing carbon emissions but if you feel you can’t avoid it, offsetting is one way you can “put back” those carbon emissions.

Carrie says: “I know from my own experience that if you don’t plan it, it probably won’t happen. So if you can work out in advance what action you want to take you’ll greatly increase your chances of doing something positive to offset those air-miles emissions.”

Tourism is responsible for a twelfth of world greenhouse gas emissions according to a recent study from Sydney University – the equivalent of 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2013 – eight percent of all man-made greenhouse gases. Flights were the biggest single contributor.

The Carbon Footprint website (www.carbonfootprint.com) makes carbon offsetting easy by allocating your offsetting contribution to your chosen project. There are currently nineteen projects, all of which meet the stringent requirements of the Quality Assurance Standard (QAS) for Carbon Offsetting.

The website even has a free calculator so you can work out how much carbon you’ll need to offset: https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx .

Carrie chose the Great Rift Valley project, funding the planting of four trees in Kenya. The tree planting programme supports local communities in the Great Rift Valley

·         Offset CO2 emissions

·         Reduce poverty

·         Provide wildlife habitats

·         Create a brighter future for project team members including orphans and people living with HIV / AIDS

Other projects supported by Carbon Footprint include:

  • Improved cookstoves for social impact in Ugandan communities
  • A borehole rehabilitation project, providing clean drinking water to a community in Uganda
  • The Portel-Pará Deforestation (REDD) programme, reducing deforestation in Brazil
  • A solar power project in India

Carbon Footprint Ltd has received endorsement from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for its reforestation efforts in the Great Rift Valley. All trees pledged and planted by Carbon Footprint / ESCONET are being included in the Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign,  across the globe to help avert damaging and economically debilitating climate change.

To find out how you can live a greener life visit our page here  and make a pledge (or 22!) to the planet to help reduce climate change.

Clive writes about positive green living and local Sussex environmental issues through his website Inspirationalise – www.inspirationalise.com

“Greening Sussex by Sussex families”