Carbon Offset

Your money will be used for:

• Purchasing native trees through our project partner PATT
• Planting, maintaining and monitoring of the revegetation site
• Administration of the offset program
• Developing a climate change education program

We estimate 70% of the offsetting cost will go directly to the reforestation project and its management. Our audit procedures guarantee that a tree does actually get planted in the ground. The project we fund has gone through a vetting procedure to ensure suitability for inclusion in our offset program.

CO2 is the standard measure of Green house gas emissions (GHG). In reality there are many other gases that contribute to climate change (e.g. methane). All these gases are converted to represent their CO2 equivalent. When carbon is used in climate change terms it is generally referring to CO2. 

No, they are protected. The forest will go on living. We will only fund projects that reforest areas that are legally protected and will not be harvested.

In a forest situation, plants will die and release carbon and methane gases however natural regeneration is constantly occurring and the forest remains a carbon sink absorbing and storing more carbon the it emits (in tropical forests anyway - there is debate in other parts of the world, i.e. higher latitudes). Methane and water vapour released is minimal. Also note that trees store carbon in the soil and foliage around them as well, not just in the timber. For absorbing and storing carbon, forests are effective tools. Also note in areas such as Thailand where our project is based, trees have extended development benefits. For upsides, we engage local villagers. They benefit from the restoration of watersheds and a return of biodiversity. They may also benefit from being directly employed to monitor and trained to run a nursery (capacity building). In some cases, the trees act a conduit for funding into village development projects for sustainable economic development. Big extended pluses that your dollar contributes to when you plant a tree to offset your carbon emissions.

There will be natural thinning and perhaps a mortality rate of maybe 10% for example, but this is countered by natural regeneration. We work in forest regeneration projects on government land or national parks - not plantations. Therefore the land is protected and set aside for forests so in theory, what was once degraded land will now be restored to natural forest or as close as can be and will live forever. All budgets for projects include up to 3 years of maintenance and monitoring costs so every effort to ensure success is made. The organisations we work with such as PATT and FORRU from Chiang Mai University are experts in their fields. We have personally visited the project sites and regular monitoring of the projects will occur.

In reality it can be difficult to live a carbon neutral lifestyle, offsetting is a good way to negate the impact of any unavoidable carbon emissions. However it is possible to live a low carbon' lifestyle; we are currently developing online education resources that will provide useful advice on how people can reduce their contribution to climate change.