How Does Carbon Offsetting Work?

We are all responsible for global warming. But how often have you thought about how much your everyday habits pollute the environment? We regularly use items that contribute to climate change without giving it much thought. The best way to understand your carbon footprint is to understand it and then offset it.

What is a carbon footprint?

A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that come from the production, use and end-of-life of a product or service. According to the Nature Conservancy, the average carbon footprint for one person in the United States is 16 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Globally, the average is closer to 4 tonnes of carbon.

Examples of how big your carbon footprint may be:

• A family of 4 flying round trip from New York to Los Angeles is 2 tonnes of carbon
• The average American’s diet carbon footprint is 2.5 tonnes of carbon
• A daily cup of coffee generate 1 tonne of carbon
• The average person’s daily car commute is 5 tonnes of carbon

Looking to find out where your carbon footprint falls? Start by calculating your footprint. A couple of key items to know about your lifestyle is:

• How often do you travel by car, plane, or public transport?
• What is the energy usage in your home?
• What types of food do you consume?
• How often do you shop for goods and services?

Now that you know your carbon footprint, how can you start to reduce your impact on the environment?

What can you do to reduce your carbon footprint?

There are many steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint. You can make lifestyle changes such as getting less meat, shopping less, and becoming more energy efficient at home. However each of these effects still leaves a small carbon footprint.

One way to combat the effects of your total carbon footprint is to purchase carbon credits. A carbon credit is the certificate that a practice has removed 1 tonne of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. At CIBO, we work with leading enterprises and growers to generate high-quality agricultural carbon credits.

How does regenerative agriculture offset carbon footprints?

At CIBO, we believe that individuals, organizations and enterprises should be able to offset their footprint with agriculture carbon credits. Agriculture carbon credits are high quality because they rely on regenerative agriculture which helps to further improve our planet.

Regenerative Agriculture is part of the solution because it provides incentives for farmers to adopt sustainable farm management and promote long term productivity and profitability. With it, farmers improve soil health, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Farming practices like conservation tillage (e.g. low-till, no-till, strip till) cover cropping, erosion prevention, and precision fertilization all contribute to reducing and offsetting carbon while also restoring soil health and farm resiliency.

It all starts with the ground beneath our feet. Understanding the challenge is important in order to understand the components of the solution and how they can best be implemented.