What does CO₂ offset mean?

The amount of CO2 produced by your activities is diminished in another place of the world, helping to mitigate the effects of global warming. We can do this by providing economic support to renewable energy and sustainable projects, such as wind farms, solar panels or biomass. This way you contribute to solution of climate change. This is also called carbon offset.

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How does carbon offset help with the solution to climate change?

· Being aware of the impact our daily life demands have in our climate.

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How does renewable energy reduce carbon emissions?

When using electricity produced from renewable energy sources like for instance wind farms, solar panels or biomass plants, the consumption of electricity produced by coal or gas power plants is diminished, since electricity companies are obliged to buy and sell first green energy. The result of this is that for each kW produced by a renewable energy source, one kW less is produced by fossil fuel installations.

The electricity obtained by renewable energy sources or green energy reduces in this way the emission of greenhouse gases.

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CO₂ or CO₂ equivalents? 

Energy used by people in the form of electricity, oil or gas raises the quantity of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and contributes to boost as a result, the so called greenhouse effect. It has been stipulated that the most important greenhouse gas by quantity is carbon dioxide (CO2) and as a result the scientific world uses CO2 to make standard reference to greenhouse gases in general including all other greenhouse gases like methane, ozone, water vapour and nitrogen oxide.

CO2 equivalents (CO2e) is an internationally accepted measure that expresses the amount of greenhouse gases , in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that would have the same global warming potential. Although CO2e is a more correct/broad measure of total greenhouse gas contribution, the media and scientific world uses  CO2 or just 'carbon' as jargon when refering to CO2e.

CO2 Neutral supports this working method and all our calculations are based on all greenhouse gases (or CO2 equivalents) and translated to the term “CO2”. Moreover our projects are aimed at the offset of all greenhouse gases.

CO2 Neutral uses the term CO2 on this Internet site to define the emission of all greenhouse gases.

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Why do different companies have different offset prices?

The contribution you can make to offset the CO2 emissions of your activities can differ from company to company. The price should be based on the quantity of CO2 you will offset and the cost of that company to effectively reduce one ton CO2.

CO2 Neutral price is calculated on basis of € 15 per ton CO2. This is the price needed to effectively reduced 1 ton CO2 by one of our renewable energy projects.

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How do I know my CO₂ emissions if the costs of electricity and gas are included in the rent?

If you are not able to exactly calculate how much electricity of gas you consume per year, it is still possible to offset your carbon emissions. The average CO2 emission per year from electricity and gas consume has been determined on 5 ton CO2 per family. 

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I already use green electricity, do I still need to offset my CO₂ emissions?

Also if you use green electricity, part of your daily activities still generate CO2 emissions, like for example plane flights, car driving and the use of gas for cooking or heating. You can always offset these CO2 emissions.

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How are CO₂ emissions calculated?

CO2 Neutral bases its calculations on figures and calculation methods of renowned scientific and governmental institutions such as, amongst others the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the European Environmental Agency (EEA) and other Dutch institutions.

The calculations for gas and electricity consume in buildings and fuel consume of cars and similar transportation means are simple and straightforward. However regarding aviation emissions there are some divergences in the way of calculating the emission of greenhouse gases. CO2 Neutral bases its calculations of carbon emissions caused by air travel on figures published by The EEA and other scientific reports of well-known universities.

The calculation of the CO2 emissions caused by air travel is based on Boeing 737 and Boeing 747 respectively for short and long flights.

In any case, we analyse regularly the scientific consensus concerning questions which directly influence our projects and our calculation methods.

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If I offset my CO₂ emissions, may I still pollute?

No.  Even if you have offset the CO2 emissions of your daily activities, you should still be aware of the threat that global warming represents for all of us, future generations and the environment as well. Only if we remain working together on the solution to climate change we will be able to succeed against global warming.

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Why is CO₂ Neutral not a charity or non-profit organization?

We believe that the fight against global warming must not be only carried out by charity or non-profit organizations. Climate change is a world problem that our society has contributed to and we, all together, must contribute to its solution.

At the establishment of CO2 Neutral and when setting up our approach to global warming, we have very carefully considered whether CO2 Neutral should become a non-profit organization. If only non-profit organizations are in charge of the solution to global warming, the climate problem will never be entirely solved. We are convinced that commercial companies can and should be environmentally and climate friendly.

We are aiming to reduce and offset as many CO2 emissions as possible, however as a commercial company we also need profit. This is the perfect combination. The more profit we make the more CO2 we can reduce and offset, because we actually work as a non-profit organization. The majority of our profits are reinvested in renewable energy projects, the promotion of greenhouse gas reductions and in the company itself.

The result of this is that we are able to reduce and offset much more CO2 emissions as a commercial company than as a charity or non-profit one and that is exactly our mission.

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Is CO₂ Neutral involved in the EU Emission Trading Scheme or the Kyoto Protocol?

With the Kyoto Protocol western countries have made agreements concerning the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The EU Emission Trading Scheme helps EU member states to reach the emission reduction objectives, to which they have not complied. Therefore, CO2 Neutral focuses its carbon emission reduction and offset in the voluntary market. This means that this reduction will not be further traded under the EU Emission Trading Scheme or counted in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions under the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol, i.e. it will not be double counted.

CO2 Neutral might purchase carbon credits only to reduce certain CO2 emissions, however these credits are not further traded and that makes the difference.

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How do you decide which projects are appropriate for carbon offset?

CO2 Neutral uses the following criteria for supporting renewable energy projects, such as wind farms, solar panels or biomass power plants:

· Financial feasibility of the project.

· A reliable investment plan.

· A thorough feasibility research and a complete analysis of the market.

· Transparency according to general corporate governance rules. 

· A firm environmental policy.

· Implementation and compliance with the internationally accepted social standards. 

Furthermore we aim to support only projects that additionally contribute to improving the local economies and the social aspects in the country where the project is carried out.

The mission of CO2 Neutral is not only contributing to the solution to global warming but has also a socially responsible goal providing  to people in developing countries the basic energy they need.

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Does CO₂ Neutral support reforestation projects?

No. Considered in isolation, planting trees cannot be seen as a solution to global warming or as a form of carbon offset. Climate change is better undertaken by developing and setting up renewable energy projects, than reforestation. 

Therefore CO2 Neutral has decided not to support any reforestation projects. CO2 Neutral only support projects in renewable energy, the genuine effective way to make carbon offset really work.

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Can I select a particular project to support with my contribution?

CO2 Neutral uses your contribution to support the financing of a whole portfolio of renewable energy projects. It is thus not possible to choose a particular project. We have chosen this approach to ensure our capability to manage the reduction of CO2 emissions in the best possible way and bring balance to:

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How do I know that my CO₂ emissions are really offset?

We believe that transparency is the best way we have to give our customers trust and confidence in our services. We give a clear view of the type of projects we support, how these projects match within our internal policy and the amount of CO2 we offset with our projects.

CO2 Neutral let specialized accountants control the CO2 offset accounting, and an annual report is published every year. This way we can show that the amount of CO2 emissions you want us to offset has been actually offset in renewable and sustainable energy projects.

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