This is my first post in this forum about a topic that I have been thinking about for quiet some time. And recently, when I increased my monthly donations, I again realised that there might be an imbalance with Co2 compensation / offset models and maybe a solution?
I offset my yearly Co2 consumption. Fortunately, it is rather easy today to find out how much to offset with calculators from the UN[1] or the German Federal Environment Agency[2]. On average, each German is responsible for emitting 10.35t of Co2 each year[3]. Even though I am vegetarian, not flying, living in a small flat, heating electricity from an eco-friendly supplier, my emissions are still round about 7t. Our planet could bear below 1t per person globally.[4] My personal share of the public infrastructure in Germany is already 1.19t—so it is impossible to achieve a personal Co2 neutrality when living in Germany.
Ok—so I am offsetting. However, I found it challenging to determine how much (in Euro) I should offset. The different calculations vary in their €/t assumptions. When following the data from the most effective organisations[5] I could offset everything for just a few Euros.
But also larger professional offsetting initiatives are offering a ton for ~25€ depending on the project’s location[6]. This results in a compensation payment of ca. 180€ for me in order to compensate the whole year’s emissions! With a straightforward calculation Luke is coming to a value of 35$ which also seems reasonable.
So far so good. I was satisfied with that and somehow was relieved that I could give something back at least.
But then I increased my donation to 10% of my income in January this year. And now here is the point. People in the EA community who earn German average income of 51.000€ (pre tax) would donate 5100€ per year. When I realised that I save more than one life per year[7] I felt confirmed that it is the right decision.
But what does that mean for my Co2 offsetting? What does that mean for the offsetting of so many people? When the most effective charities can compensate 1 ton of Co2 with 1€, followers of EA could offset their year’s Co2 impact for 10€. When donating thousands of Euros per year it makes the Co2 offset looking so tiny. Is it still worth it then?
Of course it is great to know your Co2 footprint. And of course I do not want to say, that EA people shouldn’t offset. Maybe...
… maybe it is worth to not use the most effective value for offsetting even though we beliefe in EA (so the 1€ per ton)? The German Federal Environment Agency states that the actual climate cost per ton Co2 is 237€ - and, if the welfare losses of current and future generations caused by climate change are equalized the cost per ton Co2 would be 809€.[8]
… or is it totally valid to just compensate 10€ because we are follower of EA and therefore “for us” the cost per ton is less?
I wonder if we are caring less about our emissions when we know that offsetting costs just a few euros. Imagine a flight to Australia being just a few euros more expensive or several hundred.
I decided to take the 25€ per ton but donate it to an effective organisation. Isn’t that a win-win? I am looking forward to your thoughts.
Is offsetting Co2 still a thing / a thing again?
This is my first post in this forum about a topic that I have been thinking about for quiet some time. And recently, when I increased my monthly donations, I again realised that there might be an imbalance with Co2 compensation / offset models and maybe a solution?
I offset my yearly Co2 consumption. Fortunately, it is rather easy today to find out how much to offset with calculators from the UN[1] or the German Federal Environment Agency[2]. On average, each German is responsible for emitting 10.35t of Co2 each year[3]. Even though I am vegetarian, not flying, living in a small flat, heating electricity from an eco-friendly supplier, my emissions are still round about 7t. Our planet could bear below 1t per person globally.[4] My personal share of the public infrastructure in Germany is already 1.19t—so it is impossible to achieve a personal Co2 neutrality when living in Germany.
Ok—so I am offsetting. However, I found it challenging to determine how much (in Euro) I should offset. The different calculations vary in their €/t assumptions. When following the data from the most effective organisations[5] I could offset everything for just a few Euros.
But also larger professional offsetting initiatives are offering a ton for ~25€ depending on the project’s location[6]. This results in a compensation payment of ca. 180€ for me in order to compensate the whole year’s emissions! With a straightforward calculation Luke is coming to a value of 35$ which also seems reasonable.
So far so good. I was satisfied with that and somehow was relieved that I could give something back at least.
But then I increased my donation to 10% of my income in January this year. And now here is the point. People in the EA community who earn German average income of 51.000€ (pre tax) would donate 5100€ per year. When I realised that I save more than one life per year[7] I felt confirmed that it is the right decision.
But what does that mean for my Co2 offsetting? What does that mean for the offsetting of so many people? When the most effective charities can compensate 1 ton of Co2 with 1€, followers of EA could offset their year’s Co2 impact for 10€. When donating thousands of Euros per year it makes the Co2 offset looking so tiny. Is it still worth it then?
Of course it is great to know your Co2 footprint. And of course I do not want to say, that EA people shouldn’t offset. Maybe...
… maybe it is worth to not use the most effective value for offsetting even though we beliefe in EA (so the 1€ per ton)? The German Federal Environment Agency states that the actual climate cost per ton Co2 is 237€ - and, if the welfare losses of current and future generations caused by climate change are equalized the cost per ton Co2 would be 809€.[8]
… or is it totally valid to just compensate 10€ because we are follower of EA and therefore “for us” the cost per ton is less?
I wonder if we are caring less about our emissions when we know that offsetting costs just a few euros. Imagine a flight to Australia being just a few euros more expensive or several hundred.
I decided to take the 25€ per ton but donate it to an effective organisation. Isn’t that a win-win? I am looking forward to your thoughts.
https://offset.climateneutralnow.org/footprintcalc
https://uba.co2-rechner.de/de_DE/
German Federal Environment Agency, https://uba.co2-rechner.de/de_DE/
https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/service/uba-fragen/wie-hoch-sind-die-treibhausgasemissionen-pro-person
e.g. https://effektiv-spenden.org/ which is the “German GiveWell”
e.g. https://www.atmosfair.de/de/
GiveWell’s TOP charities
https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/daten/umwelt-wirtschaft/gesellschaftliche-kosten-von-umweltbelastungen#klimakosten-von-treibhausgas-emissionen based on work of INFRAS, Fraunhofer ISI, KIT und CE Delft. This article sees it at 185$/ton https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05224-9