Guilt for sale? World's First Airport Carbon Offset Kiosks Available Now!

San Francisco’s mayor Gavin Newsom just announced the world's first airport carbon offset kiosk at San Francisco International Aiport. The Climate Passport Program kiosk will allow travelers to calculate the carbon impact of their flights and purchase offsets.

While I like the concept of carbon offsetting, in everyday practice it feels like a scam. It seems like the first place entrepreneurs go to hijack the term “green” to make a buck off off of people’s green conscious (sometimes known as guilt). Not to mention it’s a high-speed vehicle for loopholes in legislation designed to protect against pollution. With that said, not all programs are bunk, and you can check out an old post for suggestions from our community about carbon offset programs they love and trust.

“The Carbon Offsets purchased through the Climate Passport Carbon Footprint Calculator are sourced from the Garcia River Forest, a conservation-based forest management project located in Mendocino County, California. The project achieves multiple goals including: increased sequestration and storage of carbon in native redwood forests, wildlife habitat restoration, and a sustainable supply of certified wood products.”

In this case, The carbon offsets will go towards the Garcia River Forest which (with your purchase) will be supplied with new Redwood and Douglas Fir trees that absorb and store carbon dioxide. A minimal amount of the kiosk's offset sales also go to the San Francisco Carbon Fund, which works on local carbon reduction projects like a publicly-owned biofuel filling station.

It just turns out that my coworker Andrew Fitzgerald mentioned that he and his girlfriend are flying to Boston tonight, so I thought I would help them out and test out the system for them.

I entered San Francisco to Boston, 2 passengers, and Viola! It is ready to accept my credit card payment of $48.77 ($24.38 per person).

"No one is saying this is the silver bullet or justifies air travel; having kiosks at the airport mainstreams the idea that you can contribute to environmental projects. We worked with 3 degrees (one of the most well respected offset providers in the US and abide all of the verification and protocols that have been developed. We wanted to bring basic and easily consumable information to a captive audience (in the airport) where they can contribute. -Wade Crowfoot, former mayor advisor now West Coast Political Director Environmental Defense Fund

Ok, so you’ve got to hand it to them, for the cost of an airport dinner, you can rid yourself of some guilt. But really, when you’re rushing through the airport trying to catch a flight do you have time to feel guilt or socially responsible?  Time will tell...

What is Carbon offset?
“A Carbon Offset, also known as a Verified Emission Reduction (VER), represents one ton of greenhouse gas (GHG) carbon equivalent prevented from being emitted into the atmosphere. Carbon Reductions allow you to “balance” your emissions by supporting GHG reduction projects across the U.S.”

Related Content:
Guilt for sale! World's First Airport Carbon Kiosks in San Francisco
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Eco-Question: Carbon efficiency or carbon offsetting?

In addition to that offset program, we are working to create a localized carbon fund, so you can contribute to a fund that affects carbon rates in your local region. Earlier in the year we passed an ordinance that all city travel must purchase or contribute to 13% of the cost of the trip to the carbon fund." -Wade Crowfoot, former mayor advisor now West Coast Political Director Environmental Defense Fund