What is offsetting?

Offsetting is a mechanism that allows individuals and organizations to address their environmental impact. Carbon offsets are designed to help mitigate the emissions associated with one activity (such as necessary air travel) with another activity elsewhere that avoids or reduces an equivalent amount of emissions. For example, the impact of greenhouse gases (GHGs) associated with a flight from Toronto to Calgary may be neutralized by preventing the release of an equivalent amount of GHGs through the implementation of a renewable energy or energy efficiency project elsewhere in the world.

What is CO2e?

CO2e, or "carbon dioxide equivalent," is a unit of measurement that is used to relate different greenhouse gases and their warming potentials to that of CO2. For instance, 25 molecules of carbon dioxide have the same warming potential on the earth's temperature as one molecule of methane. 22,200 molecules of carbon dioxide have the same warming potential on the earth's temperature as one molecule of sulphur hexaflouride. Once released into the atmosphere, GHGs remain there for a very long time. For example, on average, one molecule of methane remains in the atmosphere 12 times longer than one molecule of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is estimated to remain in the atmosphere anywhere from 5 years to 200 years depending on where it is released in the atmosphere.

Offset your flight today by clicking on an image below: