Best Carbon Offset Companies is part of our Back to School: Green Travel Basics Series.
Carbon offsetting is a very common way to make your travels greener. But there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, or carbon offset companies each charging different prices and offering different projects. So, how do you know which carbon offset company to buy from?
(If you don’t know what carbon offsets are, check out our article: 12 Things You Need to Know About Carbon Offsets.)
These companies are both for profit and non profit and based in a range of countries. Check out their websites to learn more about what sort of carbon offsetting project they do and prices for offsetting your trip.
Best Carbon Offset Companies
Ag Cert / Driving Green (Based in Ireland)
Atmosfair (Based in Germany)
CarbonNeutral Company (Based in UK)
Climate Care (Based in UK)
Climate Friendly (Based in Australia)
Climate Trust (Based in US)
Co2balance (Based in UK)
My Climate (Based in Switzerland)
Native Energy (Based in US)
SustainableTravel (Based in US)
These recommendations for the best carbon offset companies are based on data and recommendations from the Guide to Offset Emissions and from Tufts University Climate Change Initiative.
Recommended Reading:
- 12 Things You Need to Know About Carbon Offsets: 25 Days to Green Travel, Day 11
- Hiking Tours: Best Tour Companies and Planning Your Own Hiking Tour
- Green Flights: Is it Possible?
- Newest Way to Travel Green: Search for Cheap Plane Tickets
- Stopover Itinerary = 1800 lbs More Fuel: Why Nonstop Flights are Better for the Environment
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
This list is based on outdated information and several of these companies are gone (AgCert) or out of the retail offset business (Climate Trust).
@ Rob Actually, both AgCert and Climate Trust are still in business.
Interesting post!
Re Climate Care:
They are now run by J.P. Morgan. They do not say so on their website, but they are a not-for-profit, as I discovered from emailing them. At present (May 2010) they charge £7.50/tonne of carbon. When I asked what percentage of that charge went to their projects, I did not receive an answer, but a lecture (see below). This evasiveness (and rudeness) did not inspire me to use their company.
Email from J.P. Morgan ClimateCare:
“I’d like to start by noting the crucial point that offsetting is not a charitable act – it is paying for your own pollution. We’ve always said that it shouldn’t be up to the charitable sector to tackle climate change – the whole economy needs to respond.
The question ‘how much goes directly to the projects’ is not the important question in a functioning market – the important question is ‘are you selling genuine, high quality emissions reductions?’. Why? Because in a well functioning market it is what people are prepared to pay for a particular type of carbon credit that will determine its price.
If a carbon reduction company started a carbon reduction project in 2005 that costs $10 per tonne of carbon saved, and now three years down the line the Gold Standard credits command a price of $20, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy the credits. It means that the market has rewarded them for making high quality carbon reductions. The $10 profit per tonne sends a clear signal: “It pays to invest in carbon reductions…choose the low-carbon option”. A competitive and ‘liquid’ market will push down the profit margin over time.
Our price per tonne is £7.50, on top of which we are required to add VAT at the current UK national rate this is because it is classed as providing a service to clients within the UK. Should this HM Revenue & Customs requirement change we will act accordingly. Our base price is carefully calculated taking into account project operational costs.
ClimateCare is committed to accrediting each of our projects (since 2007) to an internationally recognised and rigorous standard. We would currently consider developing projects to comply with the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)/JI, Gold Standard CDM, Gold Standard VER and the Climate Action Reserve (CAR).”