What is a “carbon footprint”?

Your “carbon footprint" measures the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) you produce while shopping, driving, flying or doing any other activity. While CO2 is not the only greenhouse gas contributing to global warming, it is the most abundant one in our atmosphere.

We produce carbon dioxide whenever we burn fossil fuels… and fossil fuels are the top source of energy – and, therefore, greenhouse gases – in the U.S. That means that anything that requires energy – farming, manufacturing, trucking, lighting, heating, cooling – generates CO2.

How do I know the size of my carbon footprint?

It’s hard to calculate your exact carbon footprint because so many factors are uncertain. Consider the shoes you’re wearing, for example: every step from producing and assembling the raw materials to driving home from the mall after you buy them generates CO2. Calculating an accurate total is virtually impossible.

On the other hand, we know the basic amounts of carbon dioxide generated, say, by driving a mile or shipping a truckload of broccoli from California to Chicago. Adding up the emissions produced by major activities – heating your home, driving to work, taking a vacation flight – can give a pretty good idea of how your daily habits contribute to global warming.

You can use GlobalForce’s carbon calculator to estimate your own carbon footprint. Just enter the basic details about your lifestyle, and we’ll take it from there. After that, we suggest ways in which you can minimize or offset your carbon emissions: for instance, by installing a programmable thermostat, driving less, replacing your light bulbs with compact fluorescents, buying carbon offsets or shopping for green and environmentally responsible products at EcoMart^® accumulating ecoPoints in the process.

How can I help fight climate change?

The best way to combat global warming is by acting now to cut your carbon footprint as much as possible. Find cleaner, more fuel-efficient ways to travel. Reduce your home energy consumption. When you shop, choose the most eco-friendly products and services you can. And once you’ve taken all those other steps, you can eliminate the rest of your footprint by purchasing carbon offsets that support projects aimed at reducing emissions elsewhere.

What are carbon offsets?

Carbon offsets compensate for CO2 emissions by investing in programs that reduce or absorb levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide elsewhere. These programs can include tree-planting efforts (because trees absorb carbon dioxide) or waste-to-energy projects that capture emissions of methane (an even more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2) from landfills and use those emissions to generate electricity.

While the best way to combat climate change is by taking personal steps to directly reduce your carbon footprint, buying offsets can help bring your footprint closer to zero once you’ve taken every other possible action.

What does a ton of CO2e mean?

Both greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon offsets are generally described in terms of “tons of CO2e” (which stands for “carbon dioxide-equivalent.” It’s a standard measure that takes into account the effects of all greenhouse gases (which also include methane, nitrogen dioxide and water vapor) as if all those effects were caused by carbon dioxide alone.

Following are some examples of typical activities and their impact in tons of CO2e *:

* Source: the Pembina Institute, http://www.onelesstonne.ca/sourcescalcs.pdf

Are all Greenhouse Gases the same?

While carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas we hear the most about, there are other pollutants in the atmosphere that also contribute to global warming. Each gas has a different global warming potential (GWP) that determines its relative strength compared to CO2.

Where CO2 has a GWP of 1, methane’s GWP is 23, which means it’s 23 times as potent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide. Other greenhouse gas GWPs range from 296 for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) to 22,200 for sulfur hexafluoride.

How does offsetting help reduce the threat of climate change?

The threat of climate change grows worse as we emit more greenhouse gases (including CO2, methane, nitrous and sulphur oxides, CFCs, HFCs and PFCs) into the atmosphere. All of us – individuals, companies and governments – need to reduce our emissions as much as possible. But we can do even more by supplementing those reductions with offsets that either help to reduce emissions or absorb greenhouse gases elsewhere in the world.

Is offsetting just a way to make people feel good, without having to reduce their impacts?

No. High-quality offsets generate real emissions reductions. Furthermore, buying offsets sends a powerful message that you acknowledge the impact of your activities and want to reduce that impact.

Still, always remember that emissions offsets are a supplemental strategy for curbing climate change. The best way to fight climate change on a personal level is by taking direct action to reduce your carbon footprint and influence others to do the same.

Do voluntary offsets really have an impact?

While voluntary carbon offsets will make up only a small part of the larger global goals to reduce carbon emissions, they can nevertheless play an important role. They can both supplement other reduction efforts and drive reductions in areas not currently targeted by existing legislation.

In 2006, for example, voluntary offsets totaled 23.7 million tons of CO2e. In fact, the voluntary offset market has grown by over 200 percent between 2005 and 2006 alone. It’s clear voluntary actions can make a difference.

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