When choosing a vendor for carbon offsets, be sure to choose a reliable vendor selling high-quality offsets! All offsets are not created equal.
Because the voluntary offset market remains largely unregulated, providers of offsets can employ a wide range of techniques to generate, calculate and market their offset products. Some of those techniques are subject to rigorous quality review; other techniques may be untested or unreliable.
If you want to be certain that your offset purchase is leading to real, quantifiable reductions in greenhouse gases, we recommend choosing a member of the CarbonTracker Network. All members of the CarbonTracker Network have submitted, for review by CarbonTracker.com staff, information about their methodology for generating, calculating and selling greenhouse gas offsets.
In any case, before you make a purchase from an offset provider, become informed about:
Most importantly, feel free to ask vendors questions about their offsets before you make a purchase! Reliable vendors work very hard to ensure transparency and that their offsets are of the highest quality. They will be very pleased to explain what they do and how they do it.
Be wary of any vendor that gives vague, little or no information about their practices!
