TerraPass is a resource for those looking to meet the challenge of global warming by taking responsibility for their own carbon emissions. With TerraPass, you can calculate your carbon footprint and find ways to reduce it with energy-saving products and ideas. Through TerraPass, you can also balance your emissions by funding clean energy and carbon reduction projects that help to fight global warming.
TerraPass also offers green products that help you save energy. Saving energy is a great way to save money and help the environment at the same time. Many of these product pay for themselves quickly in lower energy bills.
A carbon offset is a certificate representing the reduction of one metric ton (2,205 lbs) of carbon dioxide emissions, the principal cause of global warming. Although complex in practice, carbon offsets are fairly simple in theory. If you develop a project that reduces carbon dioxide emissions, every ton of emissions reduced results in the creation of one carbon offset. Project developers can then sell these offsets to finance their projects.
There are hundreds of different types of carbon reduction projects. For example, a wind farm generates clean energy, which reduces carbon emissions from coal-burning power plants. In order to finance its operations, a wind farm can sell these reductions in the form of carbon offsets.
We put a premium on the quality of the carbon reduction projects we support and on accountability to our customers. We were the first carbon offset vendor to seek independent auditing of our purchases and marketing claims, and the only vendor to publish our complete carbon purchase history.
Yes. To ensure maximum transparency and accountability, every TerraPass offset purchase is verified on two levels: our carbon reduction and clean energy projects are verified by independent environmental auditors. Every year TerraPass submits its carbon accounts to an annual audit. This audit covers several aspects of our business:
Purchase history. Do we actually buy the necessary amount of carbon offsets on behalf of our customers? To ensure that we do, the auditor examines our customer records and offset purchase contracts.
Offset quality. Do we adhere to the quality metrics that we say we support? The auditor examines our carbon offset portfolio to ensure that it meets our stated standards.
Consumer protection. Do we publicly disclose the contents of every TerraPass purchase? We are required to include a product content label with every TerraPass purchase, which is sort of like an ingredient list alerting customers to exactly what they’re buying.
TerraPass members come from all 50 states and from countries around the globe. They are united in their desire to take responsibility for their carbon emissions and to take positive action on global warming.
Recently we surveyed our members and found that they were a very green group. The majority have already installed compact fluorescent light bulbs and about half of them walk, bike or take public transit to work. 16% drive hybrids, and 6% have even installed solar panels on their home! Read more about our TerraPass customer survey.
TerraPass carbon offsets cost $5.95 per 1,000 lbs of carbon reductions. This price is the same across all of our products. Some products may carry an additional charge to cover the accompanying gift.
Our offset prices are determined by the underlying cost of the carbon reduction projects we fund. We strive to bring you the highest quality offsets at the lowest possible prices. Although you may be able to find lower-priced offsets from some vendors, those offsets typically do not meet TerraPass’ quality criteria or standards for verification.
TerraPass brings together the purchases of all its members, which gives us substantial financial leverage. The key idea behind TerraPass is that we help tip the balance to make carbon reduction and clean energy projects pay off, reducing greenhouse gas emissions at low cost.
For example your TerraPass purchase provides the additional money needed to make a wind energy plant cost-competitive with a coal-fired plant. For more details on the projects we’ve funded and an overview of our methodology, please visit our projects page.
TerraPass is always looking for great projects that meet our requirements: real, permanent greenhouse gas reductions; independent verification; and ongoing monitoring. Currently TerraPass supports three types of projects: clean energy produced by wind power; farm power from methane digesters; and landfill gas capture.
There’s only one atmosphere. Unlike smog or acid rain, global warming is not limited to any specific region. Carbon dioxide reductions in one part of the world are equivalent to carbon dioxide reductions in any part of the world because they all play a role in global warming.
Our focus as an organization is to combat global warming, so we only claim reductions of carbon dioxide or carbon dioxide equivalents. It is true that the projects TerraPass members support may have side benefits, such as the reduction of particulate emissions and pollutants such as mercury. But TerraPass makes no claim regarding such reductions
No. If you own a car, chances are that driving is the single biggest source of your individual carbon emissions. But that’s just a start. Two other categories of energy use are also potentially significant sources of carbon emissions:
Air travel. A round-trip flight between New York and Los Angeles uses about 120 gallons of jet fuel per passenger. This single trip is equivalent to about 2 months of driving.
Home energy use. Heating, cooling, and running appliances are as significant as driving for many people.
TerraPass is a for-profit social enterprise. Our goal as a company is to be completely self-sustaining, rather than reliant on outside donors.
As a social venture, our income is tied to our social mission. Simply put, the more members we attract, the more carbon dioxide we remove from the environment. You can read more about this in our blog post [What is a mission driven business?](http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/what-is-a-missi)
Yes. There’s only one atmosphere. Global warming is a global problem and to meet this challenge we need all the help we can get. You can purchase TerraPass offsets online with your credit card, no matter where you live. We ship anywhere in the world.
Every TerraPass purchase comes with a money-back guarantee. If for any reason you’re not satisfied with your purchase, you can have a full refund. Just send us an email at support@terrapass.com requesting a refund within 30 days of placing your order, and return any shipped material to us in its original condition.
We will issue a refund only when the materials have been received in saleable condition. Shipping and insurance is at your expense.
Non-offset purchases that included free shipping will be refunded the full amount, less the initial shipping charge, where applicable. Please check with us for the full refund amount if you’re uncertain.
Yes. A wide variety of organizations have partnered with TerraPass to take direct action on climate change. Some of our partners, such as Expedia, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Yahoo!, and Sam’s Club, work with TerraPass to offer climate-friendly products to their own customers. Other partners work with TerraPass to fund carbon reduction projects to balance emissions from their own business activities.
Yes. Every TerraPass carbon offset project is published on our web site at the close of our audit cycle. We publish the project location, project type, and amount of carbon offsets purchased from each project.
You can. We understand that some people have a preference for a specific project type. Other customers prefer to pick their own mix of our project types. Customers purchasing offsets are offered this option during checkout.
When you purchase a TerraPass, we buy the carbon offsets on your behalf and remove them from the market so they can’t be traded or resold. By removing them, we ensure that the reductions are permanent — they can never be used by another entity as a permit to pollute. You never actually take ownership of the carbon offsets themselves. But you do get a nice gift!
We’ve decided to skip the gift wrapping in an effort to conserve some paper. Don’t worry, though, your gift will still come in our usual attractive packaging, complete with a custom gift message from you, as well as a letter from TerraPass explaining the meaning of the present.
While we have yet to offer any log-in features, we hope to be able to in the near future. We certainly understand the desire to track previous purchases as well as make repurchasing easier. We will be making significant strides in this area over the next few months, so please do check back with us.
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