Carbon offsets offer an easy way to take responsibility for unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions. You can purchase them from projects that reduce carbon by planting trees or installing renewable energy systems.

Not all offsets are created equal; for an offset to be credible it must be leakage-free and permanent as well as verified by standards groups like Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).

Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

Your carbon footprint refers to the greenhouse gasses you emit through daily living activities like energy use, travel, and waste production. Once you have assessed your emissions you can take steps to offset them.

Reducing your carbon footprint is achievable in various ways, from switching to energy-efficient appliances and traveling by train rather than car to flying less frequently, to eating a plant-based diet, and purchasing items with reduced packaging. You can also choose reusable moving boxes for your big move. This can help you offset some of the carbon emissions you cannot avoid throughout your big relocation project.

Be sure to offset emissions as part of a project approved by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or another credible offset initiative, with certified emission reductions (CERs) that can help you meet carbon neutrality requirements. In this way, you can be certain that any emissions you offset are truly going towards mitigating emissions rather than simply redirecting them elsewhere.

Look for Carbon Offsets

There are various carbon offset marketplaces offering credits in various environmental projects. Unfortunately, not all carbon offset projects meet quality criteria: to qualify as an effective carbon offset project it must sequester carbon out of the atmosphere permanently and meet an additionality standard - otherwise, your purchase wouldn't make a difference to anyone involved in clearing-cutting their forest anyway!

Finally, an effective carbon offset should be measurable and monitored over time, as well as validated through transaction auditing to ensure its use without claims being made by anyone else. It is wise to purchase offsets that come from verified carbon markets rather than those purchased through the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). These credits don't meet additionality standards like those purchased directly. In addition, quality sellers should take steps to prevent double-counting emissions reductions.

Make a Plan

Carbon offsets offer an effective solution for companies, organizations and individuals that are unable to reduce emissions directly. Carbon offsetting allows individuals and groups to offset the environmental impacts associated with an activity - like flying - by investing in carbon reduction projects that otherwise wouldn't take place.

These projects must meet certain environmental and social criteria, such as supporting biodiversity. Furthermore, leakage-free reductions cannot be reversed; tree planting projects for instance must ensure their carbon capture remains in the ground rather than making its way back into the atmosphere.

Take Action

Buy carbon offsets as a short-term solution can help people and organizations quickly achieve carbon neutrality faster, but it must work. A scheme to incentivize trees to absorb CO2 might work in theory but not so effectively in practice. If you are planning a commercial move, you will also want to take action by using the right types of materials to reduce your carbon emissions throughout the move.

These projects must also be leakage-free to prevent emissions from shifting from one location to the next, such as has been seen in places like the Amazon rainforest. Furthermore, these initiatives should have additional environmental and social benefits as well as supporting local communities.

Living a carbon-neutral lifestyle may not be practical for many individuals, but there are steps individuals can take towards becoming carbon-neutral such as taking shorter trips and forgoing unnecessary flights, as well as supporting politicians and businesses who advocate for emissions reform and climate action.