Carbon offsetting means balancing or compensating for carbon emissions in one place with a reduction in emissions in another. Since it doesn’t matter where Green House Gases (GHGs) are emitted, as their effect on climate change is the same, reducing GHG emissions in Brazil or Italy is as effective as doing so locally. And while we need to reduce our personal carbon emissions, some emissions are currently unavoidable, so carbon offsetting is the way to compensate for those emissions we cannot stop.

Coolplanet believes carbon offsetting isn't THE solution to global warming but it is PART of the solution. It helps educate people, fund carbon reduction projects and technologies, as well as helping us move towards a carbon free lifestyle. To become carbon neutral all you have to do is reduce and then calculate your own emissions and then offset them with the project of your choice, we take care of the rest.

Carbon reduction projects throughout the world create a tradable 'carbon credit' for every tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (C02-e) that is stopped from entering our atmosphere. This credit is bought on your behalf and then 'retired' so it can't be sold again, meaning that you have stopped one ton of C02-e that otherwise would have entered the atmosphere.

This ability to generate and trade carbon credits was an implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. It enabled countries that weren't going to meet their reduction targets to buy credits from countries that had surpassed theirs. Meaning that overall Kyoto targets were met and there was an economic incentive built into the equation to encourage companies and countries to emit less and create a demand for clean energy technologies.

Carbon offsets can be created in a number of different ways:

The quality of carbon offsets is determined by the quality of the greenhouse gas abatement project they came from. Therefore, for Coolplanet to offer the highest standard of carbon offsets, the quality of the carbon reduction projects we deal with becomes paramount. To ensure the highest standard, we only purchase carbon credits that have been accredited by recognised National and International standards.

This independent verification of projects is essential in making sure that an abatement project is making permanent greenhouse gas reductions that help fight global warming. In turn we register our credits with the applicable registries so there is no double counting. If you have any questions about the abatement projects Coolplanet supports or our operational guidelines for buying and retiring offsets, please contact us and we will answer whatever questions you may have.

For our trading of carbon credits, we have a database that tracks the sale of every carbon credit as well as using government carbon credit registries wherever possible. Using this system we can be sure that credits are not double counted and are retired in a timely manner and in the right quantities. All our RECs (Renewable Energy Credits) are registered on the Renewable Energy Regulators REC Registry. Our NGACs (NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Credits) are registered with the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Register and our Greenhouse Friendly Credits are registered with the Australian Climate Exchange. All three of these registries records are publicly available.

Green Power

Coolplanet only buys Renewable Energy Certificates (REC’s) from Green Power approved generators. This means that the REC’s are independently assessed by Green Power, the government body that regulates renewable energy in Australia. The purchase and transfer of all REC's is done through the web based REC registry. This mean you can monitor all REC's bought on your behalf, giving you complete confidence throughout the process. Coolplanet is completely independent from Green Power, we support Green Power certified Projects.
www.greenpower.gov.au

Fridge Buyback Program

The fridge buyback program runs in metropolitan Sydney and Wollongong and targets any working second fridge that is in regular use, is at least 10 years old and larger than 250 litres (8.83 cubic feet).

Old fridges are big energy users, consuming up to three times the energy of new fridges. Running a second fridge adds an average of $190 a year to a electricity bill and puts one tonne of greenhouse gas into the environment.

Experienced removalists collect the fridge free of charge from the participants home and also pays them a $35 rebate. The refrigerant gas in the fridge will be properly removed and safely disposed of and the metals recycled.
Fridge Buyback is supported by the NSW Government’s Climate Change Fund and local Councils. The program has already collected 7000 fridges and aims to collect more than 22,000 by 2011, reducing NSW’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 180,000 tonnes. Opportunities to expand Fridge Buyback to NSW regional towns are being explored.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agriculture contributes to approximately 20% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Abatement projects reduce these GHG emissions on livestock farms by implementing practice changes in Animal Waste Management Systems. Emission reductions are created by improved manure handling practices such as covering a lagoon or earthen basin with a biocover or non-permeable cover, or the use of deep pit confinement buildings, or anaerobic digesters.

These practices reduce the amount of methane and nitrous oxide that would normally be produced. Agricultural producers gain a new revenue stream that results from the sale of the emission reduction. Additional benefits include reduced odour, improved fertilizer, preventing contamination of groundwater or surface water, and reduced flies. The credits from these projects are VERs that are certified by Agcert.

Municipal solid waste landfills are one of the largest sources of human-related methane emissions in the industrialized world with the gas being created from the decomposition of rotting food, vegetation and other household waste. Using traditional landfill management practices, full decomposition can take over fifty years. The gas from landfill sites composes of about 50% methane and 50% carbon dioxide with methane having the global warming potential of more than 21 times that of carbon dioxide.

Instead of letting landfill gas escape into the atmosphere, it can be captured and burnt, creating an energy source and reducing smell and smog. Importantly it is an effective way to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in the near term. To do this the gas is extracted from the landfill using a series of wells and a blower/flare system that collects the gas in a central point. From there it can be simply flared or used to generate electricity that can replace fossil fuels in industrial operations or alternatively be upgraded to pipeline quality gas. Coolplanet only uses carbon credits from Australian landfill flaring projects that have been certified with Australian government's Greenhouse Friendly standard. International sourced credits are also available.

Compact fluorescent light (CFL) abatement projects that replace incandescent light bulbs are currently in full swing in Australia due to their ability to generate carbon credits under the government's Greenhouse friendly initiative. These projects generate reductions through the greater energy efficiency of CFLs over traditional incandescents. There's a variety of lighting energy efficiency projects across commercial, government and local government facilities via lower cost incentives, free installation and give-aways.

Lighting represents around 12 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from households, and around 25 per cent of emissions from the commercial sector. The Australian government has said they are phasing out all incandescent light bulbs by 2012 and that will reduce Australia's greenhouse emissions by 4 million tonnes. Compact fluorescent light bulbs use around 20% of the power of standard light bulbs and generally last between 4 and 10 times. The credits from these projects are NGACs that are certified by NSW GGAS or Greenhouse Friendly certified credits.

There are different types of carbon credits and different carbon markets throughout the world. Here is an explanation of common terms.

Carbon Market - These are markets for trading carbon and they fall into two categories regulated and voluntary. The regulated market is for countries that have ratified Kyoto while the voluntary market is for everyone else i.e countries, companies and individuals who do not have legally binding reductions.

Carbon Credit - The reduction of GHG's equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide.

REC (Renewable Energy Certificate) - A credit that comes from renewable energy equal to one MWh which equates to one hour of electricity. Renewable energy comes primarily from solar and wind power, hydroelectricity, biomass and biofuels.

VER (Verified Emission Reduction) - A credit that is not verified through Kyoto but usually through a third party

Carbon Trading - A system that allows countries to trade carbon credits to meet their Kyoto targets

CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) - A system that allows developed countries to buy carbon credits from carbon reduction projects in developing countries. These credits are called CER's (Certified Emission Reductions).

JI (joint implementation) - A system that allows developed countries to buy carbon credits from carbon reduction projects in other developed countries.

EU ETS (European Union Emission Trading Scheme) - The world's largest GHG trading system.

CCX (Chicago Climate Exchange) - North America's only voluntary and legally binding GHG trading system.

GGAS (NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement scheme) -The world's first carbon market based in NSW. Credits traded are NGAC's (NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement credit).