Recycle, reuse and reduce as much as possible. When you have exhausted those options, offset your emissions using Green Piggy. Calculate your emissions using our carbon calculator and get a comprehensive emissions report. The emissions report will reveal how much CO2 you emit, how many pounds (or tons) of CO2 you need to offset and suggestions of how you can reduce your emissions. Green Piggy then purchases and retires the recommended credits on you behalf. But, what does all that really mean? Let’s dissect it a little further.

The voluntary market for carbon offsets has emerged as a result of individuals, companies and governments taking responsibility for their carbon emissions. Carbon offsets work just like an offset would work for any other activity. When we use or consume too much of anything, we must offset it in another way. For instance, when we eat too much food, we might try to offset the calories we consumed through exercise or dieting. The carbon market works in the same way. When we emit too much carbon dioxide, we can now purchase carbon offsets, or credits, to counterbalance our environmental damage.

We purchase these credits through established regulated markets, such as the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); specific providers (the general market); or a voluntary GHG cap-and-trade program such as the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX).

The Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is an internationally binding agreement that offers long-term solutions to the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This agreement sets GHG targets for countries that sign and ratify the agreement. The Kyoto Protocol has been adopted by over 150 countries and every industrialized country except the U.S. and Australia. As a result, the U.S. and Australia are not subject to its GHG reduction targets. The Kyoto Protocol took effect February 16, 2005 and was the first major initiative to reduce GHG emissions globally.

Source: Clean Air Cool Planet, A Consumer’s Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers, December, 2006.

General Market
In the general voluntary market, credits can be purchased directly from the project developer or by means of the retail market.

Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX)
Members of the Chicago Climate Exchange contractually commit to GHG emissions reductions of a certain level per year from their original baseline. Reductions beyond that level can be sold to other CCX members who need additional reductions because they have exceeded their emissions limit.

For example, if a company has an emissions objective of 30,000 tons of CO2, but exceeds it by 5,000 tons, the company can purchase 5,000 tons of CO2 emissions credits from the carbon market to meet their 30,000 ton objective.

Green Piggy is taking this practice and applying it to individuals and companies in a simple and affordable way. We can make a difference…one individual, one family, one company at a time.

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