Chevrolet is trying its luck. The company just completed a five-year carbon reduction initiative.
It spent $40 million buying carbon offsets from over 30 different
projects across America. When a company buys a carbon offset, it usually
pays another company to reduce emissions, in order to "offset"
emissions elsewhere. Chevy bought offsets that reduced the amount of
carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere by 8 million metric tons. "That's like planting a forest the size of Yellowstone," according
to the initiative's website. It's also equivalent to about 3 percent of
the annual carbon pollution from cars that Chevrolet's parent
company, GM, sells in a single year. Though the magnitude is small compared to the damage that cars do
across the U.S., the 8 million metric tons of offsets that Chevy bought
over the last five years made up a huge chunk of the voluntary carbon
market. The company also won an award
from the Environmental Protection Agency in early 2015 for the Campus
Clean Energy Campaign it created as part of Chevy's offsetting
initiative. The campaign helped universities set up the right protocols
to be able to sell their own carbon credits on the voluntary carbon
market. Chevy then bought credits from the universities.......
The EPA estimates the average car emits 4.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Therefore, 8 million metric tons of carbon is, incidentally, about equal to the annual emissions total of the number of cars Chevrolet sold in the United States in 2010, when Chevy launched its offsetting initiative. With about 2 million Chevy cars sold in 2014, that emissions total is up to about 9.4 million metric tons.
Chevrolet's parent company, GM, sold almost 10 million cars around the world in 2014. That would put GM's indirect carbon emissions at 47 million metric tons for 2014, while it offset only 1.6 million metric tons. And the initiative won't continue now that Chevy has met its five-year goal.
Read full article from the Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chevy-ends-sustainability-plan_564df5fde4b031745cf0164d?utm_hp_ref=business
Shane Ferro
The EPA estimates the average car emits 4.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Therefore, 8 million metric tons of carbon is, incidentally, about equal to the annual emissions total of the number of cars Chevrolet sold in the United States in 2010, when Chevy launched its offsetting initiative. With about 2 million Chevy cars sold in 2014, that emissions total is up to about 9.4 million metric tons.
Chevrolet's parent company, GM, sold almost 10 million cars around the world in 2014. That would put GM's indirect carbon emissions at 47 million metric tons for 2014, while it offset only 1.6 million metric tons. And the initiative won't continue now that Chevy has met its five-year goal.
Read full article from the Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chevy-ends-sustainability-plan_564df5fde4b031745cf0164d?utm_hp_ref=business
Shane Ferro
