What does my gift do?
The purchasing of carbon credits from the Ekos supply chain directly supports the growth and protection of permanent restorative forests in Aotearoa and the Pacific. The establishment and protection of these forests draws down carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, enhances biodiversity, improves water quality, reduces soil loss through erosion, develops climate resilience and provides diversification and sustainable land use opportunities for land owners.
For more information on individual projects and their land owners check out: https://ekos.org.nz/our-projects
How carbon credits work
One method of carbon credit production is through reforestation and rainforest protection. To operate within the carbon market these projects and their carbon claims must be measured, verified and certified. The carbon sequestration that occurs through photosynthesis within these projects is converted and issued as carbon credits. One tonne of sequestered carbon results in one carbon credit. These credits are held in a registry. When a consumer offsets their carbon emissions through the purchasing of carbon credits, these credits are permanently cancelled and are no longer available for purchase (this avoids any risk of double counting).
So what does it mean when I purchase a gift?
One year of driving gift:
Through purchasing this gift you are offsetting the total C02* emissions released from 10,000 km’s of travel in an average petrol or diesel vehicle. Ekos measures these emissions through our carbon calculator and retires the equivalent credits from the relevant registry.
Offset 1 tonne of C02 gift:
Through purchasing this gift you are offsetting 1 tC02e*. Ekos retires these credits from the relevant registry.
This a gift which takes responsibility for your family member’s/friend’s emissions and offsets these. It also provides the opportunity for having compassionate conversations about positive solutions for transitioning towards a low carbon future.
Did you know?
Investing in the protection of forests from deforestation as well as reforestation can provide up to 37% of the emission reductions needed by 2030 to keep global temperature increases under 2 degrees by 2100.
The average footprint of a New Zealander is around 10 tC02e, with diet and travel being hot spots for emissions.
Link to informative resources:
https://www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank : Project Drawdown is a global research organisation that identifies, reviews, and analyses the most viable solutions to climate change, and shares these findings with the world.
https://www.unenvironment.org/resources : The United Nations Environment Programme website posts stories and reports daily on happenings around the world.
https://www.stockholmresilience.org/ : The Stockholm Resilience Centre is a world leading research center focused on global sustainability.
https://sdgacademy.org/ : The SDG Academy creates and curates free massive open online courses and educational materials on sustainable development, climate change science and policy. An incredible resource.
Remember, when having conversations at the dinner table about climate change, listen deeply and respond compassionately. Communication across difference on these topics is essential for developing our own understanding as well as getting people on board the campaign of co-creating a zero carbon future.