What is Carbon Neutral?
In order to understand the concept of carbon neutrality you must first know what a carbon footprint is. According to the United Kingdom Carbon Trust, a British non-profit company working to accelerate the move to a low carbon society, a ‘carbon footprint’ measures the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by a person, organization, event or product. The footprint considers all six of the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gases: Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). These gasses are created from heating our water, delivering and manufacturing our food, and even reading this paragraph, green house gasses are being created by the production of the electricity used to power your computer screen.
To achieve Carbon Neutral status the greenhouse gasses created by a person, organization, event, or product must be offset. According to Carbonfund.org, a carbon offset represents a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) somewhere else, like a renewable energy or reforestation project, to balance out the emissions you cannot reduce. Offsetting is achieved by investing in carbon credits which are funds used to support these greenhouse gas reducing projects. In exchange, your credit verifies how much carbon you have neutralized. A carbon neutral person, organization, event or product has neutralized 100%.
The City of Austin has a detailed climate protection plan that includes a carbon neutral strategy. GreenCabbies.com purchases carbon credits from a local non-profit organization called Tree Folks which plants trees in the Austin area. Trees naturally absorb greenhouse gasses and help to reduce the carbon footprint, plus, buying carbon credits from Tree Folks helps to support a local Austin organization and it works to have a direct positive impact on the local area.
If you would like to purchase carbon credits to offset your carbon footprint, click here.
To achieve Carbon Neutral status the greenhouse gasses created by a person, organization, event, or product must be offset. According to Carbonfund.org, a carbon offset represents a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) somewhere else, like a renewable energy or reforestation project, to balance out the emissions you cannot reduce. Offsetting is achieved by investing in carbon credits which are funds used to support these greenhouse gas reducing projects. In exchange, your credit verifies how much carbon you have neutralized. A carbon neutral person, organization, event or product has neutralized 100%.
The City of Austin has a detailed climate protection plan that includes a carbon neutral strategy. GreenCabbies.com purchases carbon credits from a local non-profit organization called Tree Folks which plants trees in the Austin area. Trees naturally absorb greenhouse gasses and help to reduce the carbon footprint, plus, buying carbon credits from Tree Folks helps to support a local Austin organization and it works to have a direct positive impact on the local area.
If you would like to purchase carbon credits to offset your carbon footprint, click here.