You may be inspired to take action to become carbon neutral, but how does it all work?  The Carbon Neutral Alliance takes a holistic approach to carbon neutrality, and we offer the Carbon Neutral Puzzle as a tool to help you understand the issues and how they fit together.

CALCULATE GHG INVENTORY
Before you can start offsetting, you need to know where you stand. How many tonnes of carbon dioxide is your organization emitting? Alliance members use internationally recognized calculations that quantify your daily activities into tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in an easy to use spreadsheet estimator.

REDUCE ENERGY USE
Using less energy can help the environment and your pocketbook.  Incorporating energy efficiency and simple modifications in lifestyle can lower an organization’s carbon footprint. Simple things like encouraging employee use of mass transportation; purchasing offsets for airline flights at the time of ticket purchase; and using phone and video conferencing instead of non-essential face-to-face meetings are great ways to reduce your footprint.

PURCHASE RENEWABLE ENERGY
Once an organization has trimmed its energy usage, the next step is to buy renewable energy.  Many organizations sell Green-e certified renewable energy products, so you can be sure the energy you do buy is generated from renewable sources, like wind and solar.

PURCHASE CARBON OFFSETS
Once your organization makes efforts to reduce your energy use, you can decide whether to purchase carbon offsets.  Unless you work off the grid, generate all of your own renewable energy, and only travel by foot or bike, you will still have emissions for your organization.  RECs are a great option for your electricity use (see “Purchase Renewable Energy”).

The Center for Resource Solutions is in the process of developing a standard for retail carbon offsets. Once this new standard is in place, we will provide guidance on all certified carbon offset options that meet our standards of excellence. The current Green-e standard is for renewable energy options only.

EDUCATION
Understanding the impacts of global warming, what carbon neutrality is, and why it’s important is vital to our future.  Spread the word!  Talk with your colleagues and friends about what you’ve learned.  The CNA will offer educational presentations and discussions.

COLLABORATION
Working together across communities is an effective way to help fight global warming.  Pooling resources and ideas can jumpstart change.  The CNA provides a forum for discussions and collaboration related to carbon neutrality.