Sustainability

Offset Your Carbon Travel

Your travel has an environmental impact, contributing to the release of the greenhouse gases that drive climate change. Ideally, changes in our behaviors and consumption and the development of new technologies will reduce or eliminate those emissions. In the meantime, there are concrete steps that you can take to minimize the impacts of your travel.

One such way to reduce the carbon footprint of your personal travel is through carbon offsets. Projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere or prevent emissions from arising in the first place are called carbon offsets. Markets and demand currently drive the price of those offsets, thus, investment in offsets serves to increase the capacity of the market over time. By purchasing offsets through CC's carbon offset fund, you are funding these projects. Currently, there is no economic mechanism accounting for the social costs of carbon, thus buying carbon offsets is a key step towards addressing a needed market shift. The cost to offset your travel is minimal compared to the cost of the trip itself.

At Colorado College, your air and ground travel offsets go toward a landfill gas destruction project in Larimer County in Northern Colorado, which prevents greenhouse gases that were previously allowed to enter the atmosphere from contributing to climate change. Travel offsets are vital considering that a long haul flight emits as much carbon as many people do in a whole year. Thank you for joining us in acting to support our values and goals. To learn more details about our carbon offsets, please visit this page.

Invest In your travel

Instructions

1. Enter your travel details into the space provided.

2. Click the 'Calculate' button. A grey box will appear below with the distance traveled, a number of how much metric tons of CO2e was generated, an equivalent, and the cost.

4. Click the 'Offset This Trip' button at the bottom of the grey box to invest in your travel. It will open another page where you can pay to offset your trip.

5. This fund goes towards the purchasing of offsets for Colorado College. Learn more below!

Travel Offset Calculator

Report an issue - Last updated: 05/10/2022

A Quick Q&A

If you would like to know more, check out our carbon neutral FAQ that goes in-depth about offsets.

Q: How does travel impact carbon emissions?

A: Currently, the United States has the second highest percentage of global carbon emissions. According to the New York Times, air travel accounts for 2.5% of national global carbon dioxide emissions. Each individual's carbon footprint is adding to America's carbon emissions. As individuals, we do have the power to reduce the impact of air travel emissions, reducing the progression of climate change.

Q: What is an offset?

A: An offset is an investment in a project that reduces or eliminates GHG emissions that have already been released in order to cancel out their long lasting effects. There are many different types of projects: renewable energy, energy efficiency, forestry, methane capture/avoidance, and other projects such as carbon capture and storage. Offsets are fully verified and must meet multiple criteria and pass rigorous peer review and verification standards to ensure that they have real impacts.

Q: Where does CC offset our emissions?

A: Colorado College buys carbon offsets though the Larimer County Landfill. The Larimer County Landfill Capture Project has co-benefits that go beyond just reducing emissions; it has opened doors for future carbon related markets, has reduced air pollution by adding renewable energy to the grid, and supports the local community of Larimer County. These carbon offsets reduce the global warming potential of the gases released from the landfill along with the carbon that would go into the atmosphere. The reduction occurs in Larimer County Landfill because landfills release greenhouse gases including methane and potassium peroxide; if these gases are combusted in a generator, the methane is destroyed and the gases become carbon dioxide and water. Methane is a 28 times more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, therefore breaking down methane into carbon dioxide reduces its global warming potential from 28 to 1. These offsets therefore decrease the amount and potency of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.