Why I Decided to Offset My Family's Carbon Footprint

2020 was an eye-opener in so many ways. Covid-19 came to remind us of how fragile our 'normal' way of living really is. Without doubt, the pandemic wreaked havoc. The effects of the pandemic have been devastating for countless people, families and businesses. Nothing anyone would have wished for.

At the same time, as countries locked down, cars left the road, and planes stayed grounded, we caught a temporary glimpse of a less polluted world. Some citizens of Northern India saw the Himalayas for the first time in 30 years. The water in the canals of Venice was clear for the first time in decades. Scientists are now studying the effects of reduced human activity on environment and wildlife during the anthropause.

But on top of that, the pandemic has demonstrated what can be achieved in an extremely short period of time. And how quickly we can adapt to change if we really have to.

Taking this as a nudge, after many years of skepticism towards the practice, this December I started my experiment and began offsetting my family’s carbon footprint.

A drop in the ocean?

My reservations had nothing to do with the acceptance of climate change and human impact on it as an established fact. I know it threatens our futures and the very lives of our descendants. I know we must accept the challenge of doing what we can to mitigate that trend.

But despite the clear evidence of climate change’s severity, I was unsure how a single family’s impact factored into such a massive phenomenon. As even the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change observes, it is impossible to confidently predict the climate’s long-term state.?

If we are unable to predict the climate’s future, we are equally unable to accurately predict humanity’s impact upon it. And if humanity’s impact is impossible to project, what measurable effect can one family have?

Adding to this, the details of voluntary carbon offsets seemed opaque to my accountant sensibilities.?It turns out others have shared my skepticism of carbon offsets essentially since their invention.?

The issue with Certified Emission Reduction units

The types of offsets that my family have since purchased have their origin in what is called CERs, or Certified Emission Reduction units. Each unit represents a metric ton of carbon dioxide. CERs were the basis of trading schemes between developed and developing countries orchestrated by the UN.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized nations could meet sustainability targets by purchasing CERs and related trading units. This allowed them to ‘offset’ their emissions while simultaneously achieving sustainable development agendas in developing countries. In addition to countries, corporations and individuals could participate in these markets.

As the story so often goes with nonbinding pollution clean-up protocols, the reality of carbon trading schemes failed to live up to expectations. As early as 2010, 19 chemical gas manufacturers in developing countries were accused of having systematically raised their levels of greenhouse gas emissions. They did so solely to claim CERs for destroying the artificial surplus.

While the market for CERs developed and prices rose, companies had additional incentive to hold units rather than sell them as originally intended. In 2012, the bubble burst: the market value of CERs dropped from previously more than $20 USD per unit in 2008 to 31 cents.

Though the CER market was in turmoil, the concept of offsetting that underpinned it stuck around. The ‘voluntary offset’ market would grow over the next decade and these days more people are purchasing offsets voluntarily than ever before.

Not all carbon offsets are created equal

Some of the fundamental problems that emerged with offsets during the CER era remain. Many people argue that offsets are akin to modern-day indulgences, cheap appeals to middle-class anxieties that do little to encourage companies to restrain their production of greenhouse gases and may even embolden them to pollute more. To make things even more challenging, not all offsets are created equal. For a given offset to actually accomplish what it is intended for (i.e. mitigating the negative effects of emitting one ton of CO2) it must meet a fairly stringent set of criteria.

Ultimately though, I did not feel as if these concerns completely discredit the idea of offsetting – just offsetting in its worst forms. What I realized is that, like most solutions to climate change, there are no silver bullets or one-click panaceas. If at present offsetting means committing a fair amount of time to due diligence, we must accept that responsibility along with the cost of the offsets themselves. Doing so allows us to – in economist speak – internalize our externalities.

Voluntary carbon offsets are just a little piece of the puzzle

Even if we put effort into offset selection and these offsets do not have 100% of their intended impact, the risk of this happening is tolerable. Because we must not treat our offsets as means to pollute and forget, but instead as one of many tools that should be combined to address climate change.

Whether it is adjusting our A/C unit, eating less meat, or supporting grassroots environmental advocates, offsetting should exist alongside other strategies. We might never know what it means to eliminate a single family’s climate impact, but we can be sure that we tried our best to get to this place.

While this might sound somewhat tenuous, it is important to remind ourselves that climate change is a complex phenomenon. Something that is just as easily summed up in prose as it is in spreadsheets. Embrace this complexity and you too might find taking action easier than you thought it would be.

Where to start?

Are you interested in following suit? If you are, which voluntary carbon offset should you buy? Of course, this is up to you. As a pointer: Certifying organizations like Gold Standard have helped establish quality benchmarks for voluntary carbon-offset markets. They are increasingly successful in creating more transparent, accountable, and effective exchanges for voluntary offsets. Another interesting approach is that of zeroCO2 trees. But there are many others.

Have fun exploring. After all, the quest for the right project is part of the journey.