Wellspring Consulting recently purchased carbon credits to offset our estimated 56 metric tons of carbon emissions generated through our company travel in 2019.
In 2019, Wellspring’s staff worked from locations in New York, Boston, New Haven, Boulder, and Los Angeles and traveled to clients in other cities as well, including Chicago, Portland, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, which now has all of our staff working and engaging with clients virtually, we found it important to hold in-person meetings with our clients. However, the travel required for these meetings came at an environmental cost.
After discussion as a firm, we decided to offset our estimated 2019 carbon emissions by investing in projects through Cool Effect. We chose Cool Effect because each project it supports is verified by two independent technical advisory committees as well as Cool Effect staff to ensure each project is a) completed as expected and b) truly additional (e.g., more carbon would have been emitted into the atmosphere if the project did not occur).
Wellspring staff were asked to rank their top Cool Effect carbon credit projects. Wellspring donated equally to the two highest-ranked available projects. The first project will support community tree planting in India, Kenya, and Uganda to counteract negative effects like drought and deforestation. The second project is a 30-year, multi-partner initiative to protect 410,000 hectares of forest in the Chyulu Hills of Kenya, a critical habitat area for the endangered black rhino.
We recognize that carbon offsets are only a partial contribution to a much wider set of climate change mitigation efforts. A fundamental change to our economy, infrastructure, and habits is needed to combat climate change. And yet, we felt it was valuable to contribute in this small way.
By hearing about our firm’s thought process and actions, we hope you will be inspired to do something similar in your organization or household when travel becomes more common once again.
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