FAQ

These are key characteristics of real, quality carbon emissions reduction that meaningfully helps stop damaging climate change.

Additional means that without the initiatives of the project in question, the carbon emission reductions would not have taken place. This is the case for Climakind purchases of carbon. We take this definition one step further. Climakind additionality also implies the removal of carbon emissions in addition to the Kyoto target set for compliance markets.

Permanent means that the carbon you have purchased must never be emitted to the atmosphere. For many offset schemes this means that there must be a centuries-long management process in place to ensure permanency. This is not an issue for Climakind contributions.

Measurable means that the amount of carbon removed or not emitted can be quantified

Climakind defines a global standard comparing everyone’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide based on global household controllable carbon emissions. These are the emissions that result from your own personal behaviours and your own personal use of energy, such as heating water, heating and cooling your home, or using petrol. It does not, for example, include the energy used to dig up coal for export or the energy used to make the car you own This can vary significantly from the per capita measure of carbon emissions (total emissions of the country divided by the population). Household controllable emissions enable us to provide a more comparable global standard.

Carbon dioxide is emitted when we use energy created by burning fossil-fuels. Consequently it is important to eliminate the unnecessary consumption of energy in your personal life or business. For most individuals and organisations most of their carbon dioxide emissions result from using electricity and gas for heating, cooling and lighting, and from using petrol or diesel for transport. There are numerous ways we can reduce energy demands - see our tips and information for ways to reduce the carbon emissions you can control.

While it is critical that we all reduce our controllable emissions, it is not enough. We also need to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that business and industry are allowed to emit and to apply pressure to business and industry globally to be innovative in creating low-carbon solutions. Climakind empowers you to do this by purchasing carbon emission credits on your behalf and then cancelling them. The carbon dioxide never occurs, it never reaches the atmosphere.

Do your best, Climakind the rest.

The term carbon footprint refers to the amount of carbon dioxide that you emit. Carbon dioxide emissions can be measured to different degrees of accuracy. The WRI/WBCSD (World Resources Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development) refers to three scopes of emissions that can be considered when calculating a footprint. Scope 1 emissions are those that you create directly; scope 2 are indirect emissions and cover most of the energy that you purchase (electricity) and scope 3 which are other indirect emissions not covered in scope 2 such as transport on vehicles you do not own.

The more we understand the more prepared we are to act. Most of us are familiar with the terms offsetting, carbon footprint and carbon neutral. But what do they truly mean? Offsetting can refer to the use of many different types of emission credits, some which are effective in reducing emissions, and some whose emissions reductions are questionable and difficult to demonstrate.

Carbon neutral is another term that can be misleading, for while carbon neutral defines an amount of emissions reduction through some scheme, equal to one's own emissions, it does not define the security of emissions reduction. Even then the amount of emissions reduction is not always publicly verifiable. The most determined of us can be left unsatisfied by the experience and suspicious of the results. Even those that understand the urgency to act are left wondering what to do. How can we truly make a difference?

Want to offset your carbon footprint and become carbon neutral? Then consider the Climakind alternative. Your efforts to reduce carbon emissions through Climakind are proactive, high quality and secure.

Many websites provide carbon footprint calculators for you. We have not done this because most online calculators provide only a rough estimate of your personal controllable emissions - a true life-cycle footprint analysis would be time consuming, costly and impractical. In order to keep individual participation as straightforward as possible for you we have chosen to identify our three levels of participation according to Australian averages (these are close to American and British averages). The annual Australian per capita carbon footprint (the total annual emissions of the nation divided by the number of people) is about 21.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide and the annual personally controllable footprint is about 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide. We keep participation simple because we believe action is more important than the accurate calculation of an individual's annual emissions.

Strictly speaking, a carbon offset is a financial instrument aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Offsets are usually achieved through financial support of projects that either reduce greenhouse gas emissions (such as through renewable energy or energy efficiency projects) or that absorb or sequester carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere (such as through tree-planting projects). Offsetting will typically be cheaper or more convenient than reducing your own fossil-fuel usage.

Being carbon neutral simply means that either you emit no carbon to the atmosphere or that you offset the same amount of carbon emissions as your carbon footprint.

Calculating carbon emissions is complicated and the result can vary significantly depending on the methods used and the factors included in the calculation. The actual difference between your carbon footprint and the average is unlikely to be much more than the variation you would get between different calculators. So, in order to simplify the contribution process for individuals and families, Climakind uses average values.