SAN FRANCISCO—For the climate action visionaries at DriveNeutral, it’s all about helping others reduce their climate footprint—by land and by air. Thanks to jetsetters looking for a way to offset their climate footprint when traveling by plane, DriveNeutral has introduced a new CO2 calculator called FlyNeutral to help neutralize climate change one flight at a time.
“Everyone has a personal climate footprint that is unique to lifestyle choices and preferences,” says Jason Smith, founder and director of DriveNeutral and FlyNeutral. “Both efforts help individuals and organizations take global responsibility for personal emissions while initiating greater change in the marketplace. From traveling to electricity use, personal choices matter and emissions add up. When you take action on your footprint through voting with your dollar, you make sustainability profitable as well.”
DriveNeutral is a fast-growing nonprofit based in San Francisco with a focus on climate change action and education through democratizing market-based solutions. FlyNeutral is the latest addition to the carbon-reduction lifestyle services offered by DriveNeutral.
A climate footprint is the measurable amount of CO2 emissions an individual or company spews out into the atmosphere; carbon dioxide, or CO2, is the main greenhouse gas affecting climate change. Using the FlyNeutral CO2 calculator at www.FlyNeutral.org, travelers calculate their climate footprint from flying from one destination to another. Then, through their membership in FlyNeutral, they buy and retire credits for that same amount through North America’s first large scale market for greenhouse gas reductions, the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX).
‘Neutralizing’ Travel’s Impact
For example, a roundtrip cross-country flight from San Francisco to New York City is 5,160 miles, which equals approximately 2.5 metric tons of CO2 emissions. That is just for a single person on one flight. Calculate the numbers for a full plane seating about 250 passengers, or for an airline that sends dozens of flights out every day and you start to understand the global effect is staggering. With FlyNeutral there is now a way to neutralize the climate consequences for all those flights you must take.
It is simple to offset CO2 emissions and the opportunity to calculate is always available online. Plus, there is no expiration date. The effort to neutralize can take place at any time—before you travel, while you’re enjoying your trip, or once you return home. According to Smith, even those without a climate footprint can support reductions in global warming emissions. The mission for both DriveNeutral and FlyNeutral is to focus on providing multiple platforms for individuals and organizations to get personally involved with global solutions.
“What’s most important here is to develop a price tag on greenhouse gas reductions and show that people and businesses are willing to pay the cost to make a significant impact on climate change,” explains Smith. “We are devoted to helping see emissions caps put in place in a way that will create a new, profitable market for environmental and social goods.”
Go to DriveNeutral.
