Congratulations! By visiting this webpage you are about to embark on the third and final sustainability step: Restore.
You are part of a growing number of businesses and individuals that wish to move to a fully generative business or economic model.
Why offset your carbon footprint?
We are making a mess of our planet. Fact. But we can change the direction we’re going in if we start by recognising where we are, honestly, and then carefully planning how we go forward. Once you have measured and optimised your environmental footprint, the final step on your sustainability journey is about going beyond the call of duty and making good things happen for society and the living world. It’s about setting an example for all to follow. It’s about restoring faith and hope in your brand and in our future.
One of the most practical restorative things you can do right now is to invest in carbon offsets, either at home or overseas. If you are interested in offsetting projects in Ireland then please return to the Sustineo website, but if you would like to benefit communities in developing countries then you are in the right place. We’ve teamed up with COTAP.org (Carbon Offsets to Alleviate Poverty) because we like what they do, and they offer credible and transparent carbon offsets (see more below).
How it works
When you purchase a COTAP carbon offset, you are effectively contributing towards projects involving the planting of trees, protection of forests and supporting developing communities within Nicaragua, Uganda, India, Fiji, Indonesia, and Mexico. COTAP allocates 90% of your offset transaction to these projects and it is estimated that 60%+ percent goes to rural communities as earnings. This is quite good – compare with other past schemes where only 30% went directly to the project. Projects are certified to the criteria of the voluntary Plan Vivo standard which ensures credibility, and Sustineo does not benefit from any part of the transaction.
Use the button at the right (or below, if on mobile) to purchase your carbon offsets. You can choose either to offset by number of tonnes or by dollar amount. Carbon offsets purchased on this page will be logged against Sustineo, so we can see how much our clients and friends are contributing.
The Urgency
Human kind has been drawing down on our natural capital for too long. The statistics on biodiversity loss, and on the growing demand for water, fossil fuels, fish capture and natural resources, all stemming from a growing global population and GDP are stark. No matter where we live all of us will be affected by climate change. The World Economic Forum ranked extreme weather as the #1 threat to the global economy in 2018 and increasingly we are experiencing the effects on our lives, our businesses and our economies.
According to scientists it’s the final call. The world is now completely off track, heading towards 3°C instead of 1.5°C. The new IPCC report states that going past 1.5°C is dicing with the planet’s liveability, and that the 1.5°C temperature “guard rail” could be exceeded in just 12 years, in 2030.
We need to act now, and to make an actual impact, we need to do more than just our fair share.
About Sustineo
Our vision at Sustineo is to leave our planet in the same or better condition than we found it in, so that the next generation can enjoy the same lifestyle we have become accustomed to. Sustineo was set up in 2011 with a view to making low carbon projects happen. Sustineo is the Latin for ‘I sustain’, and we believe in the power of the individual to effect change in business, the community and at home.
How Your Climate Change Action Also Addresses Inequality
Climate Documentary: Years of Living Dangerously
This trailer gives us a good idea of what this is about and what is at stake. The first season of this Emmy-winning documentary can be found here, and the second season debuts on Sunday October 30th.
Transparency
Tonnes offset on this page will be evenly allocated to all COTAP projects. You will receive a detailed offset acknowledgement like this one. Your tonnes will be included in COTAP’s public carbon credit retirements on the Markit Environmental Registry like this. You can track COTAP’s progress and download projects’ annual reports, which contain detailed accounting of payments to communities, in our Transparency section.
Additional Program Details
COTAP pools purchases of carbon offsets by individuals and organizations to support certified afforestation and reforestation projects which make payments to farmers in exchange for the planting and long-term maintenence of trees on their land. All of our projects are certified by Plan Vivo, the longest-standing forestry carbon standard in the world, and the only standard which requires that projects have detailed plans for direct carbon revenue sharing with participating communities.
Plantings and tree growth are monitored and verified, and farmers receive front-loaded, performance-based payments over a period of 7 to 10 years for carbon sequestration which is projected to take place over the course of 25 or more years. In addition, farmers benefit from their trees’ fruit and nut crop income, increased food and fuel security, improved soil quality, and reduced erosion.
More About Carbon Offsetting
Carbon offsets are the market-based climate change solution through which you take responsibility for your unavoidable CO2 emissions from driving, flying, and home energy use. By buying offsets, you are taking responsibility for your personal contribution to climate change by indirectly compensating others for performing the service of counteracting the emissions which you haven’t yet been able to eliminate. When you offset through COTAP, you’re going a step further by also transforming livelihoods of some of the poorest communities on Earth.
Offsetting should be done alongside other equally important personal climate change actions, like advocating for cleaner energy sources and reducing your carbon footprint. Offsetting, advocacy, and reduction efforts all work together. For example, the process of measuring your emissions helps to reveal opportunities for reducing your footprint as well as areas where we need cleaner energy sources.
Learn More About COTAP
To learn more, please see the Mission, Projects, How It Works, How We’re Different, Transparency, and Standards sections of our site and see our above menu.
