Cool Effect Blog

Dear Colleagues, As the year progresses, businesses and organizations are reaching out to understand what action they can take to help the planet. Many have asked us about ‘carbon neutrality’— and rightly so as the definition of this term is in flux. The terms ‘carbon neutral’ and ‘carbon neutrality’ have been the terminology used for describing sustainability practices using offsets for the past 20 years. However, times are changing and so a claim can be made. Scientists are becoming more specific about the requirements associated with those terms, but these requirements are causing unintended consequences in the market. Let’s start with the definitions. Currently, scientists associated with the IPCC have defined the following: Climate Neutral: A state in which human activities result in no net effect on the climate system (all GHGs + radiative forcing). Net Zero: When carbon emissions (including emissions beyond carbon dioxide) are balanced by anthropogenic removals over a specified period of time (all GHGs). Carbon Neutral or Net Zero CO2: When anthropogenic CO2 emissions are balanced globally by anthropogenic CO2 removal over a specified period of time. Carbon Negative: When a business removes more carbon from the atmosphere than it generates (Forbes). Whether these definitions will apply [...]

Carbon Footprint Emissions of Flights & Air Travel Individuals Air travel has become an integral part of life. Whether it's a flight to a holiday destination, traveling for work, or visiting family, flying in the air helps us reach our destinations thousands of miles away in just a few hours. At the same time, the growing popularity of air travel has become a pressing issue for the environment. As air travel increases, the carbon footprint of flying is becoming more prominent, which can significantly affect the climate and pollution levels. With that in mind, let's look at how much emissions does a plane produce and examine the impact of your e air travel carbon footprint now and in the future. The Environmental Cost of Air Travel The fact that airplane emissions are a big part of the climate change issues is not news. But even a few decades ago, the percentage of people that used air travel was dramatically smaller than today, with about 2 million passengers per year in 2004 and 4.5 million in 2019. And when looking into the future, the prognosis is even bleaker. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts that by 2035, 7.2 billion passengers [...]

What is Carbon Neutrality? Companies & Entire Countries Striving for Net Zero Emissions Individuals and Companies throughout the U.S realize that we have a climate crisis on our hands and that it requires urgent solutions. As a result, these organizations and are stepping up to reduce emissions in ways never seen before. Everyone is asking, how can I or how can my business achieve carbon neutrality. What does carbon neutral mean? How does a carbon-neutral economy become a reality? What does decarbonize really mean? We’ll answer the question what is carbon neutral and how to set a goal of carbon neutrality. How to Achieve Carbon Neutrality No person or company can be completely carbon free. For any company thinking about Carbon Neutrality it is important to first “decarbonize” as much as possible. This means permanently reducing as many emissions as possible by cutting energy use, substituting fossil fuel driven energy with renewables, traveling less and reducing waste of all kinds. This will start your journey toward being one of the carbon neutral companies. It is also important to look at emissions associated with the organization and outside the organization control including employee commuting, supply chain emissions, and purchased goods and [...]

Dear Colleagues, I have had the privilege of speaking with numerous partners, each with its own challenges and goals. Businesses and organizations are stepping up for climate in unprecedented numbers. But they are doing so cautiously, and some may argue, too slowly as we face the urgent climate crisis. I’m often asked about the inconsistencies in the price of carbon offsets and part of that answer has to do with pricing by platforms, aggregators, and retailers like Cool Effect. In an effort to bring trust to the entire market, we are diving in. Cool Effect has formalized our commitment to price transparency with the announcement of The Seller’s Pledge. This legal commitment is part of Cool Effect’s Carbon Done Correctly program and is made to any buyer that purchases carbon offsets on our platform. The Seller’s Pledge commits to the following: Pricing is always transparent, the buyer and developer know the price Fees are always fixed and fully disclosed No hidden fees or undisclosed markups No hidden markups on proprietary trading Every project represented is triple verified to ensure quality The price per tonne charged by a particular project can vary substantially. Demand for certain types of carbon offsets is [...]

Since Day 1, Cool Effect has put transparency at the forefront of everything we do. From our pricing of carbon offsets to our administrative fees, to our rejection of any hidden markups, to our guarantee that every single project on our platform has been thoroughly vetted and triple-verified, we feel that there’s no better way to ensure Carbon Done Correctly than through an unwavering commitment to transparency. And now, we’re making our commitment to fully transparent transactions an official one. Now available for download on our site, you’ll find The Seller’s Pledge, a document outlining our pledge to transparency, a legal promise we make to every single individual, business, university or organization using our platform to take action against climate change. “We created our Model to bring integrity to the voluntary carbon market. It is essential if we are to achieve the success we seek and the planet requires.” — Cool Effect co-founder Dee Lawrence So why now? When we started Cool Effect over five years ago, we knew there was an increasing demand from individuals, organizations and businesses who wanted to take direct action to reduce their carbon emissions — but over this last half-decade, the depth and intensity of that demand have become [...]

The latest climate change fighting project on our platform might sound a little complicated at first, but believe us — it’s as easy as AC/DC. Our newest project, based in rural India, helps replace inefficient fossil fuel sources like kerosene lamps by assisting with the maintenance of rooftop solar panels, which provide over 40,000 rural homes with access to clean, renewable energy. In a country where only 44% of rural residents have access to electricity, over 50 million homes are completely off the grid, and half of Indian homes cannot even afford subsidized electricity, having access to reliable and affordable power sources just isn’t common. Further complicating that problem is the fact that many of these rural areas have no roads or ease of access, so a combination of distance from the mainland and regular flooding makes permanent power infrastructure almost impossible. Simply visiting these communities required our team to travel several hours by boat to reach these isolated river islands populated almost entirely by extremely poor Jute farmers. As you can see, “off the grid” in rural India doesn’t just mean a spot with poor cell phone reception — it means literally off the electrical grid. While American homes [...]

Cool Effect is more than just an easy way to verifiably take action against climate change. We’re more than our incredible collection of triple verified carbon reducing projects. And there’s a lot more to us than the close to 2 million tonnes of CO₂ we’ve successfully kept from wreaking havoc on the planet’s atmosphere. At the end of the day, Cool Effect is a community — a community of alarmed and concerned citizens who are ready to fight for the planet’s future. But the more than 530,000 members of our community aren’t just names on a list. They’re a dedicated, inspiring group who not only take action with Cool Effect but take simple actions each and every day to reduce their carbon footprint, knowing that those actions have a measurable impact on the planet. They know that small actions taken together can have a larger ripple effect, and we do too — here are a few of our favorites that they’ve shared with us that’ll help you get your 2020 started off on a carbon-friendlier foot. Close to 50% of all energy providers give their customers the option to purchase renewable electricity directly from their power supplier — and even if they don’t, every single American [...]

From radical suggestions like having fewer children to more practical solutions like eliminating meat from your diet, you’ve probably come across dozens of lists touting the “ten ways to reduce your carbon footprint”. While ambitious, it’s not always feasible to consistently implement some of the recommended tactics. For example, individuals could opt to fly less than usual, but between business travel and family visits (and traveling to the March for Science!), it can be difficult to completely eliminate flying from your lifestyle. And even if you did manage to ditch your travel habits, stop eating meat, switch to efficient energy sources and so on, you would still never be able to truly eliminate your carbon footprint. None of this is meant to discourage you, in fact, you should take as many steps as you can to reduce your carbon footprint. Fortunately, there’s also a way to negate your footprint: carbon offsets. You’ve likely heard of carbon offsets (aka removal of carbon pollution via carbon credits), but perhaps you’re unfamiliar with them or believe they are sold only to large corporations to “save face” in the environmental crisis. Despite existing misconceptions on carbon offsetting, individuals, like you, can purchase carbon offsets [...]