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Well, my 2006 carbon offset purchase is about to expire in less than a month (just received my reminder email) and I am thinking about renewing it. As a result I did a little research and I came accross a study of Carbon Offset Companies that may be of interest for those of us considering a similar purchase.

http://www.tufts.edu/tie/tci/carbonoffsets/carboncompanies.htm

Now, I don't know if there are any other similar listings and reviews of these companies... but I figured that since the interest appears higher this year than last year it could not hurt to post the link to it anyway.


Cheers;

MSantos

Hi MSantos:

___I looked over the list and Terrapasss did not receive a high mark :( When I find more time, I will dig into those pdf’s as I bet there is a ton of great info in there! Great link and thanks.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi MSantos:

___I had to look even though I have to be to work in another 5 hours … See page 37 of the Full TCI Report on voluntary offsets ( http://www.tufts.edu/tie/tci/pdf/TCI_Carbon_Offsets_Paper_April-2-07.pdf) for the recommended, recommended with reservation, and not recommended vendors on the list(s). This is a remarkable report for those wanting their money to do the most good!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I agree Wayne. The report (and the web site too) seems to expose a great deal of each company's effectiveness and overhead - which is exactly what I was looking for.

Unfortunately, this has also made my selection process a little more complicated... time for me to dig deeper. ;)

Cheers;

MSantos

I think I'm sticking with Terrapass. I like that you get something. In the .pdf xcel posted it seem the reason they are recommended with reservations is because the under estimate carbon emissions (for flights), but with the levels they have I end up over offsetting anyway.

See page 37 of the Full TCI Report on voluntary offsets ( http://www.tufts.edu/tie/tci/pdf/TCI_Carbon_Offsets_Paper_April-2-07.pdf) for the recommended, recommended with reservation, and not recommended vendors on the list(s).Wow! That's a lot of great information, and the Tufts people went to great lengths to rigorously evaluate all these companies. Just to summarize for those who haven't taken the time to follow that link:


Recommended: atmosfair (http://www.atmosfair.de/), climate friendly (http://climatefriendly.com/), MyClimate (http://www.my-climate.com/) and NativeEnergy (http://www.nativeenergy.com/).
Recommended with Reservation: CarbonCounter, Carbonfund, The CarbonNeutral Company, Climate Care, Offsetters and TerraPass (http://www.terrapass.com/).
Not Recommended: Better World Club (too bad, as I'm already a member), Cleanairpass and Solar Electric Light Fund.

I've never bought carbon offsets in the past, because I was skeptical of where my money actually went and whether it would actually help the overall energy or climate picture. But now that I have some real information to go on, I'm impressed with the projects being done by the four recommended companies, and I think it's time for me to start offsetting my carbon. I particularly like the projects being done by atmosfair and NativeEnergy, so I may buy a mix of offsets from the two.

Thanks for the great link.

It seems the reservation they have with terrapass is for aircraft.