Determine Your Carbon Footprint With This Emissions Calculator
JetBlue last month announced plans to cut carbon emissions on all domestic flights in 2020 and offset up to 17 billion pounds of carbon emissions. And on the consumer level, airlines like United have long been offering carbon offset options for environmentally conscious travelers – but how exactly does carbon offset work at all?
Well, if you want to know a little more about carbon offsetting, Wren , an online subscription service and web app, can help you calculate your total carbon footprint, as well as projects you can donate to “neutralize” pollution.
To use the site, you first need to provide your email address and select your country of origin. You will then see the “baseline carbon emissions” for your country or the average consumer emissions for that country; in the United States, this appears to be 19.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, according to data from the University of Berkeley’s Cool Climate Project . (For background, compensation is measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent .)
You will then complete a survey to determine your carbon footprint, which includes questions such as whether you drive, how many trips a year you take, and what your diet consists of. Some questions are more difficult than others and may require you to review your credit card bill. (I couldn’t, for example, immediately state how much I spend on “health care” on average per month. What about insurance?)
In the end, you will receive an approximate grand total. The mine emitted 15.5 tonnes of C02 per year – less than the baseline, but still significant compared to, well, the rest of the world.
From here, you will be presented with various options that will allow you to offset your personal carbon footprint if you choose to subscribe. Examples include providing clean energy to refugees in Uganda or helping to prevent deforestation in the Amazon through funding technology resources.
You can opt for subscription plans such as Carbon Lite, which means you offset half of your emissions, or Carbon Hero, which means you can offset your emissions by double the amount if you feel particularly green. (Based on my emissions, the cost per project ranged from $ 6 to $ 25, but you also have the option to pay whatever dollar amount you want.)
Why carbon offsetting isn’t everything
You might argue that carbon offsetting may seem like a limitation on the carbon problem. After all, offsetting is not the same as making a deliberate effort to reduce those emissions from the start. Wired’s recent history has taken a deep dive into the effectiveness of greenhouse gas offset programs; ultimately, it can be a useful solution in the short term, depending on the program. (Meanwhile, a recent ProPublica investigation found that some carbon offset projects often do not offset the pollution they were designed for.)
Where will it leave you? Well, if you’re skeptical, use Ren’s calculator to track your footprint and search the Internet for other organizations you could contribute to. (You should also keep in mind that Wren takes 20% of each subscription as payment.)
Look for Gold Standard or Green-e certified groups and the transparency of their financial performance, the New York Times writes . “To shop smartly, check how much money is going to the organization’s overhead and not the project you want to support,” notes NYT . Wondering how you can track your carbon emissions, in particular on flights? We can help .