Once upon a time, in a long ago land when “green” was just starting to morph from a colour to an all-encompassing word for “eco-friendly” and any “green” initiative was cause for celebration, carbon offsetting was the coolest kid on the block.

With a donation to a carbon offsetting fund, the emissions from your air travel, personal vehicle travel, and daily life on the whole could disappear, offset by the work of organizations removing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses from the air in mysterious, magical ways that weren’t explained well but sounded fantastic in theory.

Then, a dark time came, when consumers realized that many companies in this new carbon offsetting industry weren’t doing what they claimed.

Some were taking a large cut of consumers’ money and only giving 10 per cent or less to organisations working to cut green house gas emissions. Others, such as many carbon sequestration projects, simply didn’t pan out technically. Others just assuaged consumers’ guilt over personal emissions, allowing consumers to feel they were free to continue polluting the air.

Carbon offset companies went from Prince Charming, rescuing our damsel-in-distress planet from the fire-breathing dragon of greenhouse gas pollution, to a suspicious potential villain, the evil stepmother whose motives you can never quite figure out.

What Exactly is Carbon Offsetting?

Carbon offset companies reduce greenhouse gasses by:

• planting more trees (reforestation)
• improving energy efficiency in industrial plants
• reducing dangerous sources of personal emissions (cooking stoves in rural communities)
• reducing livestock gas emissions (cows around the world contribute ## tons of methane to the environment each year)
• investing in clean energy research (for lower-cost, easier-to-install solar panels or just the next big thing)

The reality of the infrastructure of the developed world is that it is a difficult, long-term project to lower the emissions of first-world industries. Consequently, most carbon offset programs target the developing world, where you can cut emissions more quickly and with less expense.

But whether you are reducing emissions in your hometown or country or at a factory in China or India or through a reforestation project in Ecuador, you are having the same impact on the global greenhouse gas bottom-line.

How Can You Find A Carbon Offsetting Agency You Can Trust?

The short answer is: do your research. Make sure a company is actually doing what they claim to do, or giving money to the organisation they claim to, and that their efforts are actually having an effect.

A handful of organisations evaluate carbon offset programs world-wide, so when you support an organisation they list, you can be sure your money is actually reducing global greenhouse gas output:

• The Gold Standard
• Verified Carbon Standard
• American Carbon Registry
• Climate Action Reserve

Several well-respected carbon offset programs allow you to choose which project in their portfolio you support:

• Atmosfair – the top-ranked carbon offset company in Tufts University’s report on the best carbon offset companies
• Carbonfund.org – you choose whether your money funds renewable energy, energy efficiency, or reforestation.
• Native Energy – focuses on funding community-based wind, biogas, solar, and other carbon-reducing projects
• Sterling Planet – a wide portfolio covers projects around the world ranging from tree planting to solar panel installation to landfill gas recovery
• Terrapass – projects focus on wind farm creation and methane harvesting

Have you tried a carbon offset program? Do you have one you love? Have you had a bad experience with one?