Should you buy carbon offsets for your air travel?

By National Geographic Staff January 21, 2022

Marisa de Belloy, CEO of carbon offset vendor Cool Effect says one purchase “is equal to one [metric] ton of carbon emissions that were not emitted. The term offset just means you’re using that ton to offset a ton you have put into the atmosphere.” For example, a consumer could pay $8.50 to a program in Honduras that replaces open fire cooking pits with custom-built brick-and-mortar stoves that require less wood to cook meals and funnel smoke outdoors via a chimney. Cool Effect estimates one new stove could reduce three metric tons of carbon emissions per year.