*Update

In 2012, with the leadership of student government, the Environmental Center started purchasing carbon offsets to mitigate the greenhouse gasses and climate footprint of energy used by the student-owned buildings on campus. For our previous school year, that means 11,670 metric tonnes of CO2. While we continuously work to reduce our energy use and consumption, we use carbon offsets to counteract the greenhouse gas emissions that we were not able to avoid causing.

We’ve been happy to work with Native Energy that often partners with Native American tribes to initiate carbon offsets and renewable energy projects.  We chose a project in Colorado that is close enough to CU Boulder for students to visit. The project captures methane that would otherwise leak out into the environment in La Plata County on the Southern Ute tribal land.

To purchase offsets for your CU department, office or for student/staff travel, go to: colorado.edu/ecenter/buyoffsets

 

Image showing how carbon offsets contribute to carbon neutrality goals. On the left, sources of carbon emissions are showed, such as factories, and modes of transportation, and on the left in green are carbon reducing images, like reforestation, wind power, solar pwer, biking and recycling.

Image from http://www.go-green.org/