How to Offset Your Carbon Emissions from your home, car, air travel, etc.

What offsets are/how they work:

We each generate carbon emissions as we go about our lives, creating a “carbon footprint.” To compensate for this footprint, you can purchase carbon offset credits equivalent to the amount of emissions you were responsible for. Our best bet to avoid that footprint is to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible. When that’s not possible, here’s how you can offset your carbon footprint.

Options for your lifestyle:

• purchase quick offsets from Conservation International
• calculate your offsets using this calculator from Conservation International (CI), then purchase them through CI
• calculate your offsets using this calculator from The Nature Conservancy (TNC), then purchase them through TNC

Air travel only:

1. Using this calculator, figure out the number of metric tons of CO2 emitted per year.
2. Choose a Carbon Offset Program, wherein you “buy back” the tons of carbon you emitted by supporting a conservation project. Such programs are offered by The Nature Conservancy and The Carbon Fund.

Notes about Air Travel and Carbon Emissions:

• Air travel is frequently the largest percentage of an individual’s carbon footprint.
• One round-trip flight between New York and California generates about 20 percent of the greenhouse gases that your car emits over an entire year.
• For some airlines, you can use your miles as a donation to offset carbon emissions.
• Some airlines have programs wherein you enter your flight info, and their website provides the number of miles used and offers programs to invest in. Here are links to these programs for Delta and Lufthansa.
• For domestic travel by plane, opt for a fuel efficient airline by looking at the rankings of the International Council on Clean Transportation’s U.S. domestic airline fuel efficiency ranking, 2017–2018.