Shopping for carbon credits

An environmentally conscious mom discovers carbon offsets are not always a smart buy -- especially from green-washing utility companies like PG&E.

By Katherine Ellison

Read more: Al Gore, Politics, News, Global Warming

July 2, 2007 | Like so many people I know these days, I've been feeling bad about my energy splurges: the four-block drive to my son's school on rainy days, the kilowatts frittered away recharging the new latte frother.

I've got two young kids, so in my darker moments, I fear these sprees may add to the risk they'll reach adulthood in a hotter, stormier world. Anyone who hasn't just returned from a long silent retreat knows that Americans are among the world's leading energy hogs in billowing emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas. The United Nations calculates our yearly per capita average at roughly 20 tons per capita, about six times the world's average. Unless we make deep cuts, soon, we're in deep trouble, scientists warn.

On the other hand, it's a drag to bike in the rain, and the frother keeps me out of Starbucks.

So when I realized I could make up for my household's entire impact on the climate for the price of about half a dozen double lattes per month, I wanted to know more. Apparently, all I'd have to do is buy "carbon credits," available by clicking a mouse online or by signing up on my monthly utility bill. My money would pay for projects billed as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, theoretically, at least, removing -- or "offsetting" -- as many tons out of the atmosphere as we'd put in. Somewhere in the world, trees would be planted; methane would be captured from cow poop, solar panels would be installed. Presto, we'd be "carbon neutral." And I could froth in peace.

America's embrace of the $100 million global "voluntary carbon credit market" -- the estimate comes from the World Bank -- reflects our singular moment in history. It's a moment marked by the gulf between our first wide national recognition of the hugeness of our global warming fix and of our readiness to really take it seriously. With lots of talk, but still no federal law limiting CO2, well-intentioned individuals like me are increasingly shouldering the burden to act. Yet we're easily overwhelmed by this burgeoning and utterly unregulated industry of carbon claim stakers. Go Zero. Drive Neutral. My Climate. Where on earth to start?

The dawn of the carbon market came in 1989, the year after NASA's James Hansen made headlines by telling the U.S. Senate that the "greenhouse effect" was already changing our climate. Back then, the global power firm AES invested $2 million in a forestry project in Guatemala, specifically to acquire "carbon credits." The rationale: Forests take carbon out of the air through photosynthesis and store it as they grow. "Carbon credits" had no legal value anywhere at that point, but AES managers figured they would soon enough. One day, they predicted, laws would limit greenhouse gas emissions but also give companies struggling to cut them at the source the option of "offsetting" them elsewhere.

That day has come for most of the world's industrialized nations, which have ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, but not for the United States, which hasn't. Yet while petro-dollar-powered Republican legislators continue to filibuster against the mildest greenhouse-gas-cutting laws -- such as one that would have required large electric utilities to obtain at least 15 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2022 -- the voluntary U.S. carbon market has grown at a startling rate, leading to some wacky extremes, like the Hummer I spotted recently with the bumper sticker reading: "My Vehicle Is Carbon Neutral. What About Yours?"

Democratic Party stars like Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, and cutting-edge corporations like Whole Foods and Yahoo have jumped on the carbon-credit bandwagon, together with Al Gore, who, according to a blogathan of reports this year, offsets the energy used at his 10,000-foot Tennessee mansion. Gore subscribes to a plan offered by his utility company, the Nashville Electric Service, allowing him to pay more each month to subsidize renewable energy. He has also recently retrofitted his home with geothermal energy and relies on a popular American-Indian owned concern called Native Energy to offset some of his travel.

Stanford's Steve Schneider, a trusted voice on climate issues, told me he's also a fan of offsets as a "consciousness raising" device -- "a way to get people under the tent." I knew I didn't want to be left outside that tent. So I ended up devoting a few days to checking out whether buying carbon credits made sense for my family.

The traditional first step for the serious seeker of neutrality is to calculate your household's "carbon footprint." I felt pretty smug about how we'd compare with the average U.S. gas guzzler. After all, we live in a small, well-insulated house. I telecommute, mostly, while my husband drives a Prius. I just bought an energy-efficient washing machine. And, yep, we've switched some light bulbs to compact fluorescents.

Googling "carbon calculator" filled my screen with dozens of options. I chose a site sponsored by the prestigious World Resources Institute, and filled in the blanks for our monthly gas and electricity usage and the number of miles my family members drive and fly per month.

To my distress, our total came to 24 tons per year -- a result accompanied by a gloomy cartoon scene of a green figure enveloped in smog, with what looked like a dying bird flying by. I'd temporarily forgotten that rather major splurge of carbon and finances, a family vacation on Hawaii's Big Island. Airplane travel is a huge source of fossil-fuel emissions. A single trip to Europe can add three to four tons to your footprint, according to the Tufts Climate Initiative.

Our total in fact ranked "average" on the WRI calculator. "Above average" gets you blue skies and a halo for your green guy; rank below and the sky turns black, a nearby tree loses its leaves, and the figure has a gas mask. (Note to Michael Pollan: The calculator left out the greenhouse gases involved in raising our food.)

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