What is offsetting?

The idea of offsetting is to counterbalance the environmental effects of your actions in order to ensure a healthier environment. For example, car travel releases climate-changing CO2 into the atmosphere. When you offset your driving, you ensure that an equal amount of CO2 is taken back out or that an equal amount of CO2 is being prevented from being released in to the atmosphere. This means that your driving will be "carbon neutral."

Do offsets actually make a difference?

Absolutely. In fact, making a difference is part of the definition of an offset. Without the revenues that come from offsetting, the projects we help fund would face enormous challenges even to exist.

How do I know that when I buy an offset my contribution does what it's supposed to do?

With Zerofootprint ten percent of the money you pay for an offset goes to cover our administrative costs. The rest flows directly to develop our projects. Our reforestation programs are verified to the ISO 14064-part 2 standard, and audited by a registered biologist. This means that the carbon value is carefully measured and the trees are protected to ensure they can carry out the designated amount of sequestration. In addition, Zerofootprint's projects are are risk managed to further guarantee your offset.

What Does the Zerofootprint Seal mean?

When you see the Zerofootprint Seal you know that a credible offset has been purchased.

There are number of things that make an offset project truly valuable and credible, including:

1. The project needs to be additional.
2. Proper risk managemment must be employed.
3. The project needs to be verified by the highest standards, available in a voluntary market.
4. The project needs to be in a credible registry.
5. High standard of project management must be in place. Zerofootprint offsets result from projects that posess these attributes, making them "blue chip" carbon offsets.

In addition, Zerofootprint aims to provide meaningful offsets that make the most of the carbon markets to promote long term sustainability in underdeveloped regions and communities.

Is offsetting just a way of making people feel better about their carbon footprint, rather than a way of doing something about it?

Absolutely not. We encourage people to do what they can to cut their emissions as deeply as possible through reducing and then offsetting the remainder. This means lifestyle changes. But it also means putting a price on carbon. If no one takes the trouble of calculating their CO2 emissions, no one will have any idea either how to diminish them, or what it will cost to do so. Once we all start pricing the environment into our purchases, we'll have taken the first step towards decisive change.

Also, offsetting leads to tangible benefits: robust forests, renewable energy projects, efficiency measures that go beyond "business as usual."

Why trees?

Nearly a quarter of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to deforestation. That's about 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2. Clearly we need more trees, and we need to protect the ones we still have. The world's forests store 638 billion tonnes of carbon—that's more than is currently in the atmosphere. And while trees are the only viable mechanism we have for soaking up atmospheric carbon, forests are more than just carbon farms. Trees bring many other benefits – they provide wildlife habitats and biodiversity, they prevent soil erosion, they help purify water sources, they provide food, shelter and recreation, and, if managed sustainably, they can be a renewable source of energy.

Is it risky storing carbon in trees? Aren't they vulnerable to fire, drought, and mismanagement?

There is risk in storing carbon in trees, as there is in any strategy. The best response is not to abandon an opportunity to store billions of tonnes of carbon. The point is to manage that risk by offsetting through projects that: a) match species to site b) have a verifiable management strategy in place to ensure that the trees are cared for.

Trees take a long time to soak up the carbon they're offsetting. Will new forests grow fast enough to fight climate change?

One answer lies in credit protection of old-growth forests, as advocated by the WWF and Greenpeace, for certain projects under the Kyoto Protocol. Some of our projects take this approach. This not only ensures that the hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon remains in the trees currently standing, but also protects biodiversity and natural habitats.

Isn't it true that trees store carbon only temporarily?

It is true that carbon won't stay in the trees permanently. But properly managed, it can be "parked" for several decades.

What is the difference between reforestation and restoration of degraded forests?

Reforestation is the planting of entire new forests to replace those cut down during harvesting. Since the late seventies all forests that are harvested in Canada must be reforested. So, reforestation done this way is not eligible for offsets since it would have to happen anyway. Reforestation also often requires a clearing operation, which may release a significant amount of carbon. So reforestation may be a net releaser of carbon until the forest has reached a certain level of maturity.

The picture you should have here is a big open clearcut forest being replanted. Restoration, on the other hand, is aimed at accelerating the natural process that often takes over hundreds of years, whereby a degraded forest restores itself to its natural state with indigenous species. When a (say) large, mainly Spruce forest is clearcut and left to nature, trees such as Alder, Cottonwood and brush take over. The original Spruce would have had deep root systems that hold the soil together whereas the Alder and bushes have very shallow root systems and so the resulting land becomes extremely vulnerable to runoff.

This is plainly visible in the project in Maple Ridge where new housing developments have caused more runoff and sinkholes are forming in the forest as water erodes the soil. The eroded soil then lands up in the rivers. The Air Canada offsets are targeted at eco-system restoration projects. These projects involve negligible disturbance to the degraded land and the restoration process does not release much carbon at all. The forests in question are formerly first growth forests (think of tall Spruce trees) now overgrown with invasive brush, bushes (think Blackberry) and Alder trees. Eco-system restoration consists of planting strategically-placed heterogeneous clumps of native species, managing them until they are firmly rooted and reach a certain level of maturity (say 5 years) and then letting them dominate the existing forest, produce the shade that then eventually eliminates the invasive species that are present. Since these forests would not have been restored without the input of offset funds they are truly additional and qualify for offsets.

Is Zerofootprint a charity?

Zerofootprint is a not-for-profit organization empowering individuals to create a sustainable world. We bring together the power of social networks on the web- the best environmental science, reisk management and software engineering- to create an environment for change that focuese on an individual's impact as part of the human collective effort.

Zerofootprint is an organization that brings together a dynamic group of individuals from a variety of disciplines and diverse backgrounds. Learn more about Team Zero, our partners, endorsers, and scientific advisors.

We actively promote and incubate the restoration of degraded forests in Canada and around the world, and we produce studies to help our clients understand offsetting, the threat of climate change, and the importance of the world's forests. In addition, we activly develop renewable energy projects that are additional for offsetting programs. To Learn More About Offsetting please read Everything You Wanted to Know About Offsetting. This is a Zerofootprint publicaiton that was written to inform individuals who are interested in purchasing offsets and learning more about them.

Zerofootprint offers carbon audit and offsetting consulting services to the global marketplace of businesses and organizations that want to reduce their carbon footprint. Our non-retail offsets include both renewable and reforestation credits.

Zerofootprint services include:

1. Audit CO2 emissions associated with operations, products and services;
2. Offset CO2 emissions associated with operations, produces and services;
3. Provide reports for emissions and recommendations for reduction;
4. Certify and provide marketing support;
5. Package and sell carbon credits;
6. Undertake sourcing of offset projects. Zerofootprint will source renewable energy, reforestation, and other projects that meet clients' needs.

For more information please contact

Zerofootprint empowers individuals to create a sustainable world. We provide tools to measure and manage one's carbon footprint.

Zerofootprint's retail offsets, sold through our carbon shop, are ISO Certified.

Measure your Carbon footprint

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Zerofootprint works with large corporations, organizations, cities and universities to help them reduce their carbon and ecological footprint.
Click here to see some of Zerofootprint's clients.

Zerofootprint's Everything you Wanted to Know about Offsettting

This publication provides a broad overview of offsetting and will help increase your understanding of the market and methodologies.

ZFP Best Practices Report on Avoided Logging

This is an in-depth analysis of how greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions can best be achieved by reduced deforestation, reduced logging, and forest management project activities.

Zerofootprint Guides: Offsetting - Offsetting As A Sop To The Conscience

Zerofootprint Guides: Offsetting, Part 2 - The Additionality Issue

Zerofootprint Guides: Offsetting, Part 3 - The Problem Of Permanence

Zerofootprint Guides: Offsetting, Part 4 - Why Offset With Trees When Fossil Fuels Are To Blame?

Zerofootprint Guides: Offsetting, Part 5 - So, you think you don't offset?

There are a number of things that make an offset project truly valuable and credible, including:

1. The project needs to be additional.
2. Proper risk management must be employed.
3. The project needs to be verified by the highest standards, available in a voluntary market.
4. The project needs to be in a credible registry.
5. A High standard of project management must be in place.