Confused Which Carbon Offset Service to Use? EDF Lists Eleven They Trust
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 09.10.08
The issue of carbon offsets is a contentious one: Some people panning them as doing little good or being distracting from the true environmental consequences of our lifestyle choices; other people praise them for providing a method to make a positive difference in the fight against global warming. If you’re in the latter camp there still remains the problem of determining which offset service to use. If that’s the question that’s been bugging you, Environmental Defense Fund has the answer:
One-Stop Source for Offsetting Your Personal Carbon Emissions
Launched today, CarbonOffsetList.org offers a compilation of 11 “pre-screened, independently verified offset projects that meet Environmental Defense Fund’s criteria” that makes sure these carbon offset projects are up to snuff. So what are these criteria?
EDF Carbon Offset Fund Criteria
Here are some of EDF’s criteria:
1) Emission reductions are achieved with sound methodologies and practices.
2) All emission reduction claims are verified and verifiable by a third party.
3) All emission reductions are permanent.
4) The carbon offset was generated in a way that produced net positive environmental and community impacts.
5) Offsets are serialized and tracked so that they cannot be sold twice.
You can view the complete carbon offset criteria list with fuller descriptions on the Carbon Offset List website.
If you're confused about where to go to compensate for you carbon-spewing lifestyle—and pretty much every one of us could use to do that a bit more—you can rest assured that anyone of the 11 projects EDF has selected is the real deal.
:: Environmental Defense Fund (press release)
Carbon Offsets
Survey of Carbon Offset Services
Tiga’s Travel to be 100% Carbon Offset With Atmosfair
Carbon Neutral Myth? Protesters Take On Offset Companies
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by Half in Three Steps
- Eat a Vegetarian Diet, Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by a Ton
- Take it from a Beatle: Cut Your Carbon Footprint by Making Mondays Meat-Free
- Does Recycling Really Make a Difference?
- Mister Miyagi's Guide to Going Green: 5 Questions to Always Ask to Think Green and Be Green
- Why Do Some States Have Significantly Lower Carbon Emissions Than Others?
In case anyone doesn't know what "flare" means, it's basically send it up a stack and burn it, usually only done when you have no other use for it or storage is full.
I wouldn't send business to any carbon credit, I would do the actions myself, but good gosh avoid the ones that are just burning stuff in the claim of doing good.
Burning 1kg of methane produces about 2.75 kg CO2. Since 1 kg is the GHG equivalent of about 21 kg CO2, that is a net reduction of about 18 kg. Landfill gas just escapes if no one tries to trap and burn it. Yes, wherever possible we should try to use the energy released by burning it instead of just flaring it, but burning it is actually a good thing.
The other step: don't send organic material to landfills.
Hi,
I think that one criterion is forgotten: is the carbon offsets service NGO based or not. As mentioned in this blog, I’m not so keen on the carbon offset systems/companies shooting up like mushrooms and pinch their share of the eco-hype and - more important - money. The latter is the sometimes the real motive underlying these initiatives/companies where the ultimate goal is to make profit after all. Therefore I’m more likely to support NGO initiatives where the cost structure is transparent and you exactly know where the/your money goes to.
Eddy
The whole carbon offsetting is a complex cake!! Do any business you know do it? Should we do it as well as trying to drive down our impact ourselves?
Any advice / case studies/ signposting very welcome!
Rich :: Socks for Happy People