FAQ's about Carbon Footprints and Carbon Offsets

What does it mean to be carbon neutral and how is my carbon really being offset?

Carbon neutral means that you offset the carbon that you produce through the use of carbon sinks or renewable energy. As well as physically offsetting carbon through natural resources like trees, The Carbon Company gives you the opportunity to offset your carbon footprint through the use of carbon offsets along with a tree planting campaign which we provide free of charge.

What is a carbon offset?

Carbon offsetting as part of a "carbon neutral" lifestyle has gained appeal and momentum mainly among consumers in western countries who have become aware of and concerned about the potentially negative environmental effects of energy-intensive lifestyles and economies. The Kyoto Protocol has sanctioned offsets as a way for governments and private companies to earn carbon offsets which can be traded in the marketplace. The Protocol established the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which validates and measures projects to ensure they produce authentic benefits and are genuinely "additional" activities that would not otherwise have been undertaken. Organizations that have difficulty meeting their emissions quota are able to offset by buying CDM-approved Certified Emissions Reductions. The CDM encourages projects that involve, for example, sustainable power generation, changes in land use, and forestry. Not all trading countries allow their companies to buy all types of credit. The commercial system has contributed to the increasing popularity of voluntary offsets among private individuals, companies, and organizations.

Where do carbon offsets come from?

Carbon offsets can be generated by any number of "emission reduction projects." These can be any type of project that demonstrates quantifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Some examples might include projects that reduce emissions by changing large industrial or agricultural operations or might include projects that capture emissions through reforestation or storing greenhouse gases underground.

What are the benefits of using carbon offsets?

A major benefit of carbon offsets is that even after you have reduced your driving and electricity usage and taken other efficiency measures, offsets offer a way to continue reducing your overall impact on global warming — all the way to zero. The bottom line is that carbon offsets provide an additional opportunity for anyone to make significant individual contributions to reducing global warming.

Where do offsets come from?

A Renewable Energy Credit (REC) can come from any electrical generation including wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, low impact hydropower, and renewable forest programs as well as farmers and ranchers who change their techniques to capture and trap carbon in the soils, thereby creating "carbon sinks."

Why do I need to buy carbon offsets?

A popular incentive for buying offsets would be to reduce your carbon footprint and your contribution to global warming. Carbon offsets help support the development of green projects that will be around for a very long time continuously reducing potential carbon outputs. Also your purchase of these offsets help to subsidize their creation, incentivizing future development.

Can I resell my carbon offsets?

Unfortunately once you have obtained our carbon offsets they cannot be resold. You are ultimately retiring the offset with your purchase.

The Carbon Companies tree planting program

One tree will consume around a ton of carbon over a forty-year lifespan. Balancing out your vehicle’s carbon for the year is a great idea. The Carbon Company goes an extra mile by promoting one tree to be planted per ton of carbon offset. When we drive or use fossil fuels there is still carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere. Trees capture that CO2 and turn it into oxygen. This is another way to offset the CO2 ultimately a one-two punch against global warming. In a sense trees are a natural scrubber which will work to keep our environment clean and safe for years to come. Our tree planting program is supported through state conservation agencies. A variety of evergreens, mainly Ponderosa pine and Austrian pine as well as cedar trees, will be planted. We chose these trees because of their ability to grow rather quickly and resist drought. All trees are planted in a weed barrier and irrigated until the trees are established and able to survive on their own.

Typical questions:

• Why trees?
• Trees capture and store large amounts of carbon, converting CO2 into oxygen. This helps ameloriate the world’s CO2 levels through a natural and physical approach.

• Who plants the trees?
• The Carbon Company has teamed up with county conservation agencies to get the trees into the ground. These agencies have applicants who must pass a rigorous set of requirements to assure that the trees have the best chance of survival.

• When are the trees planted?
• The best time to plant trees is in the early summer months so we are subjected to a window of opportunity for optimal growth. Typical planting dates range from May to July.

• Where are the trees going to be planted?
• The first set of trees will be donated to conservation agencies in eastern Colorado.

• What type of trees will be planted?
• The typical tree selected will be a cedar, Ponderosa or Austrian pine because they have a tendency to be the heartiest variety for the selected area.