MLB Green Advisory from NRDC recommending 'carbon offset' purchases

• "NY Mets/ Transportation/ Carbon offsets for transportation

Your team may want to consider reducing the net carbon emissions associated with its transportation needs by purchasing carbon offsets.

• When your team buys a carbon offset, it is investing in a project – such as new renewable energy projects –
  

• that will yield a measurable reduction in future greenhouse gas emissions.

You may also wish to suggest similar programs to the bus, truck, car, and rental companies with which you do business.

However, carbon offsets should not be the first option when attempting to improve the environmental profile of your transportation. Before purchasing offsets, consider implementing other initiatives to promote environmentally superior forms of transportation such as walking, bicycling, public transportation, car pools, and the use of high fuel-efficiency vehicles.

Green-e and the California Climate Action Registry have recently launched certification programs to ensure the environmental quality of carbon offsets. We recommend offsets that meet the Green-e Climate Protocol for Renewable Energy and any of the Climate Action Reserve protocols. However, it is still useful to ask providers what type of projects they invest in, how they ensure that these investments deliver additional environmental benefits, and whether the projects have negative environmental impacts.

Calculate your carbon emissions

What are Carbon Offsets?

Greenhouse gas offsets are investments in projects that avoid, capture or sequester emissions of greenhouse gasses.

• When your team buys an offset,
  

• it is investing in a new project that will cause a quantifiable decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. Examples of such projects include
  

• renewable energy projects, such as solar and wind power, and the capture of methane at agricultural or waste facilities.

Environmental Benefits

It is sometimes not possible to bike to work or ride public transportation every day. And while hybrid cars are more fuel efficient than the average car, they still run partially on gasoline and therefore emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

• So in the near term, your team will likely continue to have a sizable carbon footprint.
  

• When you buy offsets, you reduce your net emissions of greenhouse gasses, helping to reduce
  

• the harmful affects of global warming."
  

"Additional Resources

Green-e Climate standard
EPA's Carbon Calculator
Clean Air, Cool Planet: Consumer’s Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers

The NRDC Greening Advisor™ for Major League Baseball © 2008. All rights reserved.

Questions or comments?
Contact greensports@nrdc.org "