Climate Challenge Day Five:Carbon Offsets

Carbon Offsets

As we work towards being carbon neutral, we purchase carbon offsets, which pay for projects to reduce the amount of carbon being used or  in the atmosphere. Large scale solar installations (like the solar panels on CHS) qualify. Replanting deforested areas qualifies. Purchasing small, highly efficient cooking stoves for people who have been cooking on open wood fires qualifies.  The projects are often global because the organizers are looking for the largest reduction for the least money, which is not a bad plan.

Carbon offsets are good idea, especially if you have done all you can in your own home to reduce your consumption or if you have to fly for family emergencies or business requirements. However, they do come at a cost—you may expand your ecological footprint or the amount of land needed to support your lifestyle—while you reduce your carbon footprint. It is a tradeoff.

We have purchased offsets for years. Mark set up an automatic withdrawal from our account so that we made a monthly contribution.  A few months ago, he realized that the system had broken down, so he is in the process of researching and evaluating various projects. There are dozens of options—and questions.

How are organizations certified? Is the certification meaningful?  Are the projects effective? Can we sign up for a monthly donation? Are we interested in more local or global projects?  We created a chart, which we found very helpful.

name	certification	monthly	Global/local
Native Energy	Not clear, but they are in Vermont. Reputable businesses work with them.	Have to call them, so, not really	global
Terrapass	Gold Standard, Verified Carbon Standard, the Climate Action Reserve, and the American Carbon Registry	yes. Actually, the site was very difficult to use. It was totally down one day.	global
Gold Standard	The Gold Standard	no	global
Green e	Green e	No—they do not sell offsets, they just certify	global
Carbon Fund	·         American Carbon Registry ·         Climate Action Reserve ·         Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standard ·         Gold Standard	Pre-set options for households, houses, cars, gifts….not monthly	Global
McKenzie River Trust: Faith Community Fund	No, but works with One Percent for the Planet and Earthshare	yes	Eugene, Oregon

The Corvallis Interfaith Climate Justice group   is working on a fund for  local carbon offsets so that we can see the direct impact of our purchases while we are out and about in the neighborhood.

If you are just beginning and you have Pacific Power you can purchase Blue Sky energy, which supports community solar installations and requires that all of your energy come from renewal sources. The more people who purchase Blue Sky, the more pressure there is on the power company to find renewable energy. 

Update: After trying to set up a monthly account with terrapass for about a week, we purchased offsets for the year and vowed to revisit a monthly donation later on.

Options:

Blue Sky power or Smart Energy (Northwest Natural‘s program).

Carbon Offsets to become carbon neutral  or negative.

Work to establish local carbon offsets.