Have you ever wanted to address your carbon footprint? Did you know that everything we do incurs a carbon cost to this planet? And production of the ingredients of your pet’s supplies also emit CO2? If you already knew that then you are probably looking for a way to reduce your impact.

Whether it is online orders, short drives with the car, buying goods at the supermarket, our smallest daily activities often impact the planet in an inconspicuous way.

Why inconspicuous?

Because greenhouse gas emissions are unfortunately invisible to the naked eye, and are disbursed where there’s certain kinds of human activity.

What is a GHG?

Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are called greenhouse gases (GHG).

GHGs include but are not limited to:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2): Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil), solid waste, trees and other biological materials, and also as a result of certain chemical reactions (e.g., manufacture of cement). Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere (or "sequestered") when it is absorbed by plants as part of the biological carbon cycle.
  
  
• Methane (CH4): Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from livestock and other agricultural practices, land use and by the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills.
  
  
• Nitrous oxide (N2O): Nitrous oxide is emitted during agricultural, land use, and industrial activities; combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste; as well as during treatment of wastewater.

Source United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

We might not see them, we may not be able to hold them in our hands, however, we do feel their effects. Indeed, we have been feeling and experiencing heatwaves, droughts, hotter summers, shorter winters and more extreme weather. We have all noticed that less insects are falling on our car’s windshields than when we were younger. You probably also heard of glaciers melting, risks of sea level rise, and mass extinction of animal species.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world has until 2030 to cut human-caused carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in half (and cut other greenhouse gas emissions considerably) to maintain a 50% chance of avoiding all the worst effects of climate change.

By 2050, CO2 emissions will need to reach “net zero” – where emissions are in balance with removals – to sustain this chance. Such reductions will require worldwide action by national and local governments, along with businesses and civil society.

Luckily, until we reach the transition to a carbon-moderate lifestyle, we have solutions to address our impact through ClimatePositive!  As a part of a wider collective action, we help people, pets and companies mitigate their carbon impact. 

How is ClimatePositive helping you mitigate your carbon footprint?

We need to use every tool at our disposal to address climate change and reduce as many GHGs as we can in the fastest possible way. As we progressively change our lifestyle, we can take a stance now to mitigate our CO2 impact.

“Carbon offsets” if used responsibly, accelerate action to avert dangerous climate change.

What is a carbon offset?

The terms carbon offset and carbon offset credit (or simply “offset credit”) are used interchangeably, though they can mean slightly different things. A carbon offset broadly refers to a reduction in GHG emissions that is used to compensate for emissions that occur elsewhere. A carbon offset credit is a transferable instrument certified by governments or independent certification bodies to represent an emission reduction of one metric ton of CO2, or an equivalent amount of other GHGs. The purchaser of an offset credit can “retire” it to claim the underlying reduction towards their own GHG reduction goals.

What does ClimatePositive have to do with this?

ClimatePositive supports and develops carbon projects resulting in the creation of “carbon offsets”. Once the projects are verified by third parties, they reduce GHGs. With these reductions, we compensate for individual’s, pet’s, car’s, team’s, and companies’ emissions.

On top of that, ClimatePositive also supports tree planting projects worldwide to compensate for what we currently can’t avoid and adopt a low carbon future. Through a monthly subscription, you can support these projects with us, offset your emissions and plant trees to reforest deforested areas.

ClimatePositive has meticulously calculated the carbon impacts of individuals, pets, cars, and businesses in developed countries. All the calculations are audited annually to make sure we adapt to any changes in carbon impact. On top of that calculation, to own up to its name, ClimatePositive has added 25% emissions on all plans to compensate more than what is emitted.

What can you offset with ClimatePositive and what does it include?

Your footprint as an Individual

ClimatePositive has developed 3 different carbon impact plans based on an individual’s travelling. On a conservative approach, we calculated the plans on an average basis to make sure we cover everyone’s impact.

Whether your impact might be higher or lower than this average, there will always be an implicit base carbon impact referable to you as a citizen in your country.

This is the average per capita carbon footprint for a person who lives where you do, and can be worked out by dividing the total greenhouse gas emissions from your country by its population. This footprint is measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e).

As a small emitter, the average calculations include the emissions per capita in your country, a 25% buffer and 60 trees planted per year. We found out the major factor that differs your carbon impact as an individual, is the distance travelled by car and the amount of flights per year. Some people live in cities and take public transportation, others live in the countryside and need a car. You might take the plane and fly one or two times a year, whereas others don’t. Therefore, as a medium emitter, we also cover 1.3 flight per year (average number of flight per capita worldwide) and 8’000 km travelled by car. Eventually if you fly and drive a car more often, we’ve got you covered with the large emitter plan. Medium and large emitter plans, respectively plant 120 and 160 trees as well. For a more bespoke plan on your car’s emissions, you can always decide to get the ClimatePositive car badge.

Pets

Up to 44% of the UK’s population own a pet. Cats’ and dogs’ eating habits are responsible for dumping as many as 64 million tons of GHG into the atmosphere every year – roughly the equivalent of driving over 13 million cars. Last year 49 million hectares of agricultural land, an area double the size of the UK, was used to make dry pet food for cats and dogs. The pet food industry creates annual GHG emissions of 106 million tons yearly which is more than countries like Mozambique and the Philippines.

ClimatePositive’s methodology specifically focuses on the annual food consumption of an average pet based on its size and weight. However, when you include all the treats, accessories, vet care and expenses that comes with a pet this can add up to over a ton more of CO2 over the course of 12 months. At ClimatePositive, we calculate the pet’s carbon pawprint based off all their activities as well as adding an extra 25% to ensure all pets live ClimatePositive. The calculated emissions produced per pet represents the amount of CO2 equivalents to be reduced in ClimatePositive carbon offset projects. Every subscription includes the planting of trees.

Cars

According to the EPA, a typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. This number can vary based on a vehicle’s fuel, fuel economy, and the number of miles driven per year. You might have seen that other plans do cover miles driven when offsetting your footprint as an individual. However, at ClimatePositive, we take climate action very seriously and wanted to go the extra mile. Even more miles further as this plan covers specific regions and covers more miles than a standard individual’s plan.

To reward you and for you to show your commitment, the plan comes with a car badge you can stick on your windshield. Check our annually audited basis of preparation to get more details on the emissions calculation.

Your footprint as a team

ClimatePositive has developed three different plans for the footprint of a work team since workers have different CO2 impacts. However, we do prefer to work on averages as they help us get a more conservative approach and make sure we do cover everyone’s impact. As a small emitter team member, you will see an average calculated on the emissions per capita in your country, a 25% buffer and 60 trees planted per year. We found out that the major factor that differs your carbon impact as a worker, is your business trips. The distance travelled by car and the number of times you fly in a year for business purposes. Some of us don’t use any transportation for our business but some others travel around for a variety of reasons. You might take the plane and fly one or two times a year, whereas others don’t. Therefore, as a medium team emitter, we also cover for 2 short-haul and 1 long-haul flights per year and 8’000  km travelled by car. Eventually if you travel more often and drive a car even more, we’ve got you covered with the large emitter plan. Medium and large emitter plans, respectively plant a 120 and 160 trees as well. For a more bespoke plan on your car’s emissions, you can always decide to get the ClimatePositive car badge.

Companies as a whole

Compensating for your team is a first step but it doesn’t make the business entirely carbon neutral. Therefore, as a second step we do have the tools so that your company can reach its climate goals. From defining a sustainability strategy to calculating your business’s emissions as whole. We work with you and help you define a clear set of goals, an emissions reduction plan and offsetting your scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

Scope 1: This encompasses emissions from sources which are under the direct control of the company. This includes the stationary and mobile combustion of fossil fuels in order to generate electricity, heat, or run combustion engines in vehicles. It also covers emissions from chemical processes and fugitive emissions, such as those resulting from refrigerant. leaks.

Scope 2: This encompasses emissions caused by the generation of purchased electricity. as well as the district heating and cooling purchased by the company. These emissions are released when the utility company burns fossil fuels to generate energy.

Scope 3: This covers all other emissions of which a company is an indirect cause. They are split into upstream (the company's suppliers and their own suppliers) and downstream (after the company has sold its product or service) emissions. There are a total of 15 categories including the production of purchased raw materials, transport, business travel. and waste disposal.

Why doesn’t ClimatePositive calculate your exact carbon footprint?

Software determining your emissions based on tailored questions base their calculations on what’s called a “bottom-up analysis”.

Whilst you might think this is the right approach, it has its setbacks. Especially considering the fact that it’s impossible to disclose all the areas of your life that emit CO2. You wouldn’t be disclosing all of that and it’s not your fault!

We know for a fact, that using the countries emissions divided by its population will include all sectors of emissions. Data sources are also all available to everyone and are being monitored everyday which gives a much better accuracy on the calculations.

You probably think that your footprint is either higher or lower than your average, however averages per capita puts everyone in the same place and allow us to figure out a footprint if all the people in that country had the same impact.

We are convinced that you have at least 2 persons in mind that have different carbon impact due to their different lifestyles, therefore different subscriptions are available. If you think you’re a heavy polluter, you can choose a plan tailored for that! You might drive a gas-guzzling car for example.

Rude awakening

While counterbalancing your carbon impression with your ClimatePositive membership is significant, balancing won't tackle environmental change all alone. Assuming you live in a somewhat rich country, the odds are your carbon impression is fundamentally higher than it should be, to help keep an Earth-wide temperature boost underneath 1.5ºC or 2ºC.

You can utilize the Goals segment of your ClimatePositive profile to define yourself lower carbon way of life objectives, for example, eating a plant-based diet or flying less (or not the least bit!).

1 http://www.offsetguide.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Carbon-Offset-Guide_3122020.pdf

2 CO2 can be removed from the atmosphere through natural sequestration (e.g., in trees, soils, or the ocean) or through artificial means (e.g., using directair capture technologies, which are still in their infancy).