FAQ
What is my carbon footprint and how do I know if your calculator determines the correct footprint?
Your carbon footprint is the CO2 which is emitted through your current lifestyle. In most cases, an individual’s main sources of emissions are your house, your car, and your air travel. Our calculator allows you to determine what the emissions are from those sources. The calculator on our website follow the standards of the World Resources Institute, one of the most highly respected environmental think tanks in the world.
What does carbon neutral mean?
To be carbon neutral means to have net zero emissions. Nearly everything from food to businesses, products, factories and even individuals can become carbon neutral. Most of these things have some sort of carbon footprint associated with them, due to transportation, electricity consumption, and the decomposition of solid waste, to name a few. To become carbon neutral, one must quantify and reduce their carbon footprint and then purchase carbon offsets to mitigate the remainder.
What are carbon offsets?
An offset is defined as something that counterbalances; a compensating equivalent. Carbon offsets, measured in tons of CO2, are created by projects which reduce, absorb or prevent greenhouse gas from going into the atmosphere. A carbon offset balances the impact of unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions which you produce.
Is buying carbon offsets really the solution to global warming?
We wish the answer were as simple as that! Although offsets are a very important part of the solution, there are many other pieces to this puzzle. Global warming is a very complex and dangerous issue to which there is no easy way out. Corporations and individuals are both contributors to the problem and also the answer to the solution.
In order to win the fight against global warming, we must all take steps to reduce our environmental impact. Before you offset, it is important that you evaluate your lifestyle and implement behaviors that will reduce your footprint: walk or take public transportation when possible, buy local, consume less meat, carry a water bottle rather than buying bottled water. There are countless ways that little changes in our lives can make a huge reduction in our carbon footprints. We realize that it would be very difficult for most of us to give up driving completely or to change our eating or shopping habits drastically, but little steps add up to make a big difference!
Once you feel that you have reduced your footprint as much as possible, you can purchase offsets to balance what you can’t eliminate from your lifestyle.
How do you know that NetGreen offsets are quality offsets?
Projects must meet certain standards in order to qualify as a carbon offset. NetGreen purchases only those projects that have meet the criteria of the following standards: VCS, CarbonFix and Plan Vivo. These standards provide methodologies for project developers to follow which ensure that the offsets are real, additional (meaning that the project could not have happened without the income from the sale of offsets), verifiable and permanent.
Whenever possible, NetGreen purchases offsets that have been certified by the CCBS. Projects that have met the voluntary CCBA guidelines “simultaneously generate climate, biodiversity and sustainable-development benefits”
What types of projects does NetGreen invest in?
NetGreen invests in high-quality forestry projects. More specifically, we invest in Avoided Deforestation projects located within one of the 4 primary global carbon sinks. Rain forests located near the equator are able to sequester far more carbon than forests located at greater latitudes. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of acres of rain forest are destroyed every day by activities such as logging and land clearing for grazing. When these trees are destroyed, the carbon trapped within is released into the atmosphere. This, in conjunction with the emissions created by deforestation activities, is one of the main contributors to global warming.
By protecting these forests, we are ensuring that the trees will continue to absorb carbon and that the carbon stored in the trees will not be released into the atmosphere. Preserving these forests also ensures that the rain forests will continue to provide us with scientific discoveries such as previously unknown species and medicinal plants.
We have made it our mission at NetGreen to protect these rain forests and the countless individuals, flora, and fauna who consider it home. A portion of our proceeds are donated to Dr. Jane Goodall to fund her environmental and humanitarian efforts around the world.
In addition to Avoided Deforestation projects, NetGreen has also invested in several projects based here in the Pacific Northwest.
Have more questions? Comments?
We love to hear from you! Please contact us with any questions or comments that you may have.
