Becoming Carbon Neutral:

What are We Doing to Control Carbon Emissions?

There is much talk these days amongst environmentalists and other concerned people about becoming "carbon neutral". What does this mean and is it possible? And if so, how do we do it?

This article attempts to give some pointers on these difficult questions. Please note: this article covers quite a lot of ground but it only deals with climate change negotiations up to Kyoto - not beyond.

If you are at all interested in green living and the environment you will already be aware that our energy needs are causing climate change.

Many of the ways that we make and use energy cause carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere.

There it acts as a greenhouse gas, trapping more of the sun's warmth.
This results in global warming and climate change. Every time we get in our cars, or fire up the central heating system we are each contributing to the problem. So, to become carbon neutral would be a great benefit.

To be carbon neutral just means that you do not contribute any extra (net) carbon to the atmosphere through your activities.

Becoming carbon neutral:

To be carbon neutral means that for every ton of carbon which you are responsible for producing you also lock up an equivalent amount - in a "carbon sink". In other words, your net carbon emissions are zero.

A carbon sink is basically a tree! Or any other slow growing green life form...or an ocean.. (Yes, I know, that's a bit simplistic!)

Carbon is recycled and used in the natural world. The trick is to absorb and use as much carbon as you produce. There are a number of ways to become carbon neutral.

Becoming carbon neutral:

A carbon sink is a natural resource which is capable of storing carbon and keeping it out of the atmosphere. Coal deposits from the carboniferous period are just that - naturally occurring carbon sinks.

Clearly, we cannot enlarge the oceans but we can plant more trees. In fact, we humans have been responsible for decreasing the tree cover of the planet over many years. Re-forestation projects may contribute significantly to reducing carbon emissions.

Stop deforestation

Even better would be a change whereby we just stopped cutting down trees without replacing them. There are on-going logging projects in places as widespread as Tasmania and Indonesia. In Tasmania virgin forest is being cut down - mainly for toilet paper! In Indonesia virgin rainforest is being replaced by palm oil plantations and other energy-intensive crops - some for grown for biofuels

It has been estimated that forest destruction accounts for around 25 - 30% of current carbon emissions worldwide. When trees are cut down they release their stored carbon back into the atmosphere. The actual processes of logging are often energy-hungry, too, causing yet more emissions.

Artificial carbon storage

There are also ways being developed of storing carbon in the ground but many environmentalists are sceptical as to how effective they might be. There are many experimental schemes being tried, from artificial cloud cover to geological storage. The first coal-fired power station with carbon capture facilities has just gone on stream in Germany - Spremberg, September 2008. The technology is expensive and is not regarded as a complete solution to the problem of carbon emissions from coal.

The ocean has become an unofficial carbon sink; coral reefs are dying because excessive carbon dioxide absorption makes seawater become more acid than it should be. The die-off of plants and other living things caused by acidification then causes yet more carbon-dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions.

How a carbon sink works

To understand how a carbon sink might work, lets review a few facts about the carbon cycle.

Becoming carbon neutral:

Plants lock up carbon as they grow. When they die, or are consumed, the carbon is released back into the atmosphere.

You may remember from class the carbon cycle. Trees and other plants take in carbon dioxide during the day and exchange it within their systems. They also emit oxygen - all of which is very good for other living things.

No animal life could exist on earth without this cycle. It has been going on since the first primitive organisms evolved billions of years ago.

Animals are part of the cycle too. They breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Animal wastes such as manure also emit carbon dioxide as they decompose.

This carbon cycle goes on in a grand way across the planet.

The crucial thing is that it affects our weather systems. The carbon cycle and the weather systems linked to it are now being disrupted in a major way by our industrial activities - the burning of fossil fuels, (coal, oil, and natural gas) especially. Fossil fuels contain huge amounts of carbon and when they are burned CO2 is released into the atmosphere. This is carbon which has been locked up in the ground for millennia.

The amount of carbon being released has increased dramatically in the last 200 years since the industrial revolution - and it continues to rise and rise.

The net result is global warming and climate change.

If you are interested in learning more about global warming and climate change please see: Global warming - causes and effects

One idea for becoming carbon neutral is that for every amount of carbon that you are responsible for releasing into the atmosphere, an equivalent amount can be locked away by planting trees.

This idea has been given some celebrity highlighting by Chris Martin of Coldplay, who decided to neutralise the carbon from his one of his band's tours by planting trees.

He also worked with his record company to entirely offset the production and distribution of his albums, (X&Y and A Rush of Blood to the Head - some 12 million cds.)

We can all contribute too. You might not be up for planting a whole forest but you could plant more trees to help offset your own carbon footprint.

There are now organisations dedicated to making this a practical solution for anyone who is interested. You buy trees from them which they plant to offset your carbon emissions from your travel or other activities.

You can plant a tree here with Gaiam.

Organisations such as CarbonNeutral in the UK will calculate your carbon emissions from, say an air flight. They then sell you the right number of trees to offset your emissions as a traveller, which they will then have planted on your behalf.

A long haul flight half way around the world would cost about 5 trees.

Planting trees to absorb carbon is worthwhile but problematic

Criticisms of carbon-neutral schemes

There have been criticisms of some of these schemes. In some, trees have been planted which were then inadequately looked after. Also, trees are sometimes calculated as full-grown in the off-setting calculations.

This is misleading because what you are paying for is young saplings which may or may not grow to become large trees in thirty years or more. So, once more it's a case of "caveat emptor" - buyer beware. If you are thinking of buying into one of these schemes it is worth doing some checks to make sure that the company is doing things properly.

It is also worth remembering that these schemes only help to undo damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions. There is an easy tendency for people and organisations to believe that we can all carry on with "business as usual" because of schemes such as these. In truth, if we are to solve the issue of climate change in our lifetimes, far more drastic cuts in emissions are needed. Off-setting current emission is just not going to be enough.

There are also environmental organisations which will calculate your carbon footprint for you. (The carbon footprint is a measure of how much carbon dioxide you personally are responsible for emitting into the atmosphere. The calculation is based upon the size of your house, heating methods and your lifestyle.

You need to research the credibility of organisations offering tree planting as a way of offsetting carbon emissions. Unfortunately, there have been several instances of fraudulent schemes operating, where trees are not planted or local people are exploited. There are issues connected with stewardship; a planted tree may fail to thrive. Excessive claims have also been made for some such schemes.

Both the UK and Australian governments have taken steps to approve or endorse schemes in order to ensure standards.

For links to some of the organisations mentioned please see: Greenfootsteps Links Page

No but it certainly might help some.

The amount of carbon emitted by each one of us in the developed world at the moment - on average - is about 11 metric tons per year.

In the developing world the figures are less stark: nearly 2 tons per person.

However, the amount recommended by environmental bodies as (possibly) being sustainable, is only 2 tons per person per year - and the figures for the developing world are rising steeply.

China has already overtaken the United States as the top emitter of CO2 according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency in 2008. The increases in coal fired industries and cement production in China may account for two thirds of the world's increased carbon emissions. Nevertheless, their carbon emissions per head are still far lower than those of the west.

China currently is responsible for about 3.5 billion tons - nearly as much as the whole European Union - while the USA has nearly one quarter of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide - a whopping 6 billion tons.

World wide, these figures add up to some 24 billion metric tons of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels (figure for the year 2000).

So, there's a bit of work to do!

The estimated amount of carbon now being emitted world-wide stands at 33 billion tons, so things are getting worse, not better.

Clearly, planting a few forests is not going to solve the whole problem!

Becoming carbon neutral:

Cutting carbon: The other obvious way that this problem can be tackled is for us to find ways in which the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere can be substantially cut.

If we could return to a situation where we were only releasing, say 2 tons per person worldwide, it might be realistic to then deal with capturing that amount by planting trees every year.

Becoming carbon neutral:

But is it possible to get such a huge reduction in our carbon emissions? Here in Britain we are currently using nearly 10 tons per person per year. So for us it would be a huge reduction.

With rising living standards and rising expectations, many of the trends are in exactly the opposite direction.

Here's a very brief look at what cutting our emissions down to 1/6th of current levels might entail.

Becoming carbon neutral:

What would cutting back our carbon emissions mean?

As things stand, our carbon emissions are going up year on year not down. And they are growing at their fastest rate ever

Scientists now agree that the world needs to reduce carbon emissions by around 60% or more within the next 3 to 4 decades. This in order just to stabilise global warming at safe levels.

The Kyoto Protocol has developed policies to help the world reduce carbon emissions.

Becoming carbon neutral:

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