As carbon offsets gain in popularity, they also invite more scrutiny. This is a good thing. You’ve probably heard stories of airlines claiming huge offset figures while experts warn that they continue to pollute. Or perhaps you’re sceptical of the ads for gas and oil companies that tout their investment in green technology.
The truth is that offset figures are extremely difficult to calculate because they’re mostly theoretical. Most offset projects, including tree planting, are an investment in future carbon capture, which means claiming an offset amount in the present is pretty problematic. What if a project fails? What’s involved in the project supply chain? What happens if there’s an accident causing ecological damage? As a result of these unknowns, carbon capture estimates can vary wildly.
For example, let’s say a person plants a tree. Some estimates put the lifetime carbon sequestration of a tree as 400kg CO₂e, but others put it at 900kg CO₂e (CO₂e refers to carbon equivalent). Further complicating matters is impermanence. What if a natural disaster such as flooding or wind knocks the tree down? What if it burns in a fire, releasing carbon back into the atmosphere?
At Switch2Zero, we're committed to transparency in how we calculate the impact of our subscriptions - and we will always tend towards conservative offset calculations so as not to over-promise.
A Switch2Zero subscription offsets your carbon footprint and supports environmental sustainability in three key ways:
- CO₂ Offset Projects
- Plastic Waste Removal
- Trees Planting
1. Offsetting
We use the term “offsetting CO₂” to refer to the 3rd party, verified projects that we contribute to through the United Nations and Gold Standard. These include wind farms, hydroelectric power, biofuels, and other technological innovations all over the world.
Each investment purchases a number of CO₂e tons (the ‘e’ stands for equivalent) which are certificated by the Providers (either UN or GS) to ensure no double counting, each project has a capped amount of CO₂e tons available depending on its type and size.
We select projects based on their impact, location, and stage of development, ensuring that your subscription premium goes towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their respective locations now, not hypothetically, and not at some later time.
2. Collecting Plastic
Plastic is one of the planet’s leading (and most tangible) pollutants - causing catastrophic biodiversity loss worldwide, as well as increasingly harming our own species through ingestion. We partner with Plastic Bank to fund plastic waste removal projects around the globe, contributing to environmental health in the immediate terms as well as fuelling economic growth in coastal communities. You can read more about Plastic Bank here.
3. Tree Planting
The final part of a Switch 2 Zero subscription is tree planting with Eden Reforestation Projects, furthering your investment in a greener future. We don’t count these towards your CO₂e offset number, because unlike the CO₂ offset projects which are reducing emissions right now, a tree needs to grow and thrive before it can start “sequestering” (capturing) carbon.
The amount of carbon a tree sequesters depends on its age, species and environmental conditions. As previously mentioned, common estimates for the amount of carbon capture in a tree’s lifetime range between 400-900kg of CO₂. At Switch2Zero, we’ve decided to be cautious, and use 200kg as a lifetime estimation for each tree planted.
All Offset, Plastic and Tree projects provide a formal certificate for each contribution made, this helps ensure there is no ‘double counting’ as each certificate has a unique code which can be traced from source to purchaser. We keep all these certificates in our Public Ledger so you can be confident we buy what we say we do from who we say we do.
We want to make sure our subscriptions recognise the reality of people’s lives.
So how do you calculate how much carbon a normal person needs to offset in their daily life? Everyone lives differently, some people travel more or less, and people have different eating and bathing habits.
We’ve used data from the World Economic Forum to calculate the average carbon footprint of people in the highest polluting countries versus the lowest and come up with three basic plans for personal subscriptions and another three for businesses which work upon the same principles.
We generally assume a child’s carbon footprint is half an adult’s, meanwhile, a pet’s emissions are largely dependent on their diet. An average-sized dog, for example, has a carbon footprint of 0.77 tons of CO₂ per year, and an average-sized cat’s carbon footprint is 0.31 tons of CO₂ per year. Considering the popularity of these pets and their size difference, we’ve assumed a fixed average of 0.6 metric tons CO₂e per pet per year.
Here’s how the logic works out for the adult humans:
Personal Subscriptions:
Our personal subscriptions can either offset an individual’s carbon footprint, or their whole family’s (including kids and pets).
1. Lite Plans
These are for people who don’t travel much and perhaps have a plant-based diet.
We calculate the emissions of carbon-lite adults by noting the divide between the top 10 emitting countries (responsible for 60% of global emissions) and the 100 least emitting (responsible for 3%) which comes to 4.5 metric tons per person. We account for differences in circumstances and location by subtracting 10% from The World Bank’s global average of emissions per person, and get a “lite” average of 4 metric tons per person. However, in order to give you a flat monthly rate, this figure needs to be easily divided by 12, so we’ve rounded up again to 4.8 tons CO₂e. (We reckon it’s better to tackle more emissions than less.)
2. Standard Plans
These are for average Western lifestyles. You probably have a family car and eat meat a few times a week. We’ve calculated the emissions of users with medium-carbon lifestyles based on the average of the G20 group (19 countries and the EU) from the World Bank, which comes to 8 metric tons a year. However, in order to give you a flat monthly rate, this figure needs to be easily divided by 12, so we’ve rounded up to 8.4 tons CO₂e. (We reckon it’s better to tackle more emissions than less.)
3. Ultimate Plans
This is for families with a bit more wiggle room. You probably have more than one car, fly several times a year, and don’t have to worry much about what you buy. We’ve calculated the emissions of adults with high-carbon lifestyles based on the average of the top 15 countries from the World Bank, which comes to 17 metric tons a year. However, to give you a flat monthly rate, this figure needs to be easily divided by 12, so we’ve rounded to the nearest divisible neighbour of 16.8 tons CO₂e.
Business Subscriptions:
Our business subscriptions offer companies a way to offset their employees’ carbon footprints. Employee CO₂ emissions are largely based on travel patterns.
1. Lite Plans
Lite plans are suited to employees who mostly work from home. Just like with the Personal Lite Plan, we calculate the emissions of carbon-lite users by noting the divide between the top 10 emitting countries (responsible for 60% of global emissions) and the 100 least emitting (responsible for 3%) which comes to 4.5 metric tons per person. We account for differences in circumstances and location by subtracting 10% from The World Bank’s global average of emissions per person, and get a “lite” average of 4 metric tons per person.
Research suggests that home workers have a weekly emission rate of around 41.8kg, as they take separate journeys for chores, hobbies, socialising, etc.
41.8kg multiplied by the average working weeks in a year (48) and divided by 1000 to convert from kilograms to tons comes to 2. 2+4 (the global average above)=6 tons CO₂e.
2. Standard Plans
Standard is a good fit for employees with a daily commute who work primarily in an office environment.
Medium-carbon lifestyle calculations are based on the average of the G20 group from the World Bank (19 countries and the EU), which comes to 8 metric tons a year. Research suggests that office workers have a weekly emission rate of around 36.9kg, as they can often combine travel for chores, hobbies, and socialising with their commute.
36.9kg multiplied by the average working weeks in a year (48) and divided by 1000 to convert from kilograms to tons, this comes to 1.77. 1.77+8= 9.77 which we initially rounded up to 10 because this is all estimation anyway and better to tackle more emissions than less. However, we later realised that to offer you a flat monthly rate, we needed to adjust that figure to its nearest neighbour divisible by 12- in this case, that’s 10.8 tons CO₂e.
3. Traveller Plans
Traveller plans are for employees that travel both short and long distances frequently for work.
High- carbon lifestyle emissions have been calculated based on the average of the top 15 countries from the World Bank, which comes to 17 metric tons a year. Research suggests that business travellers have a weekly emission rate of around 59.2kg. Multiplied by the average working weeks in a year (48) and divided by 1000 to convert from kilograms to tons, this comes to 2.84.
2.84+17= 19.84, which we initially rounded up to 20 because this is all estimation anyway and better to tackle more emissions than less. Later we realised that to offer a flat monthly rate we needed a figure divisible by 12, so rounded to its nearest appropriate neighbour, which in this case is 20.4 tons CO₂e.
Switch2Zero is committed to helping you reduce your carbon footprint easily, quickly and affordably.
The cost per ton of CO₂e captured or reduced can vary significantly depending on the project type and its location.
We want to offer customers a premium of $5.00 per ton of CO₂e, which our research suggests is within affordability for potential customers while also allowing us to invest in a broad portfolio of projects (8-15 each month) that blends type and geographic location.
Trees ($0.15 per tree) and plastic ($0.55 per kg) both have a fixed cost provided by our partners.
Your subscription premium therefore includes the cost of $5.00 per ton of CO₂e, $0.55 per kg of plastic, and $0.15 per tree included in your plan. We also add 20% to the gross cost of these projects to cover our operational costs such as payment fees, research, system maintenance and development, climate awareness activity and staff costs.
