EcoTree puts an end to carbon offsetting!

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Sarran Forest, France

Calculate my CO2 emissions

Haven't calculated your carbon footprint yet? Our carbon calculators are at your disposal. They will give you indicative figures for your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions expressed in CO2 equivalents and help you to reduce your expenditure. Then you can choose to contribute by supporting the planting and management of carbon sinks and their biodiversity to mitigate your impact on global warming.

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Why opt for a contribution rather than carbon offsetting?

Why opt for a contribution rather than carbon offsetting?

It's not enough to plant trees to offset your polluting activities. For several years, carbon offsetting has promoted the idea that it is possible to cancel out bad deeds (greenhouse gas emissions caused by one's activity) by buying good deeds (carbon credits or trees). However, nothing will ever replace the essential reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which everyone needs to realize. To achieve global carbon neutrality by 2050, as set out in the Paris Climate Agreement, under the auspices of the IPCC and the world's leading scientists, we must act now and simultaneously on three levers: avoid, reduce, and contribute. We believe that it is more accurate to speak of a carbon contribution or a contribution to global carbon neutrality or an ecological contribution than of compensation. Behind any idea of compensation lies the possibility of continuing to emit without making any effort to avoid it. Carbon offsetting sounds like a right to pollute, whereas the Net Zero Initiative perfectly demonstrates that it is necessary to go further and reduce and prevent our GHG emissions to an incompressible proportion. To find out more, see our carbon manifesto.
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4 tips for good carbon contribution

Avoid, reduce and contribute at the same time

It is vital to carry out three concrete actions, generally summed up as follows: avoid, reduce and compensate. We think it's more appropriate to talk about contribution rather than compensation. Still, for the rest, it's a scheme that's entirely relevant since it's vital to contribute right now to renewing the carbon sinks that are forests and to supporting biodiversity, which is under serious threat of extinction.

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Supporting carbon sinks through the purchase of carbon credits

You can make your carbon contribution through the acquisition of carbon removal credits, which provide long-term support for the creation of new natural carbon sinksforests, wetlands, etc.). However, the acquisition of carbon removal credits only makes sense if it is part of the "avoid, reduce, contribute" trio, without seeking to replace one or other of the avoid and reduce actions.

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Acquiring quality carbon removal credits

We want to stress this point, which is absolutely crucial: not all carbon credits are equal, and to make a fair and genuine contribution, we need to focus on high-quality carbon credits issued as part of Nature-based Solutions and as part of local projects monitored over time, preferably European or as close to your location or the location of your value chain, where the emissions are from. The legislation surrounding carbon credits is still somewhat vague, and several scandals have exposed the vanity of projects carried out on the other side of the world without any real control or transparency. These are offsetting practices whose sole aim is to ease the conscience of the companies or organisations that are emitting them, without having any real effect on climate change and without providing any proven support for biodiversity.

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Individuals and companies can buy carbon credits

As part of their efforts to contribute to global carbon neutrality, individuals and businesses can purchase carbon credits. We recommend you look for high-quality carbon credits supporting carbon capture projects via Nature-based Solutions. Initially designed for businesses, carbon credits are now available to everyone, enabling them to support tree planting and forest maintenance, for example.

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Your ecological contribution

Find out more about our trees, which contribute to the French forest ecosystem. We also offer carbon credits for private individuals. Please contact us to find out more.

4260Arbre1820%FRhttps://bocdn.ecotree.green/essence/0001/03/816a54b1590715cfc2bbdc9e313dd1aebf2275cc.jpegRedwoodUneven-aged high forest Berné 2 Forest 56https://ecotree.green/en/offers/forest/berne-forest-3https://ecotree.green/en/offers/56-morbihan/berne-forest-3/redwood/4260
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Redwood €18
Age: 0 to 2 years old
Berné 2 Forest
Morbihan, Brittany, France
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4158Arbre1820%FRhttps://bocdn.ecotree.green/essence/0001/03/f8a6877b2887051a0576fcfcac134244c2810f73.jpegRed CedarUneven-aged high forest Gourin Forest 56https://ecotree.green/en/offers/forest/gourin-foresthttps://ecotree.green/en/offers/56-morbihan/gourin-forest/red-cedar/4158
Red Cedar €18
Age: 0 to 2 years old
Gourin Forest
Morbihan, Brittany, France
4156Arbre1820%FRhttps://bocdn.ecotree.green/essence/0001/04/f878815b9b9d7ae94a19642f4a2bf1c56b46b64d.jpegDouglas firUneven-aged high forest Berné 3 Forest 56https://ecotree.green/en/offers/forest/berne-forest-2https://ecotree.green/en/offers/56-morbihan/berne-forest-2/douglas-fir/4156
Age: 0 to 2 years old
Berné 3 Forest
Morbihan, Brittany, France

Please note that this is a promotional communication. See our notice of information.

Discover more trees

If you have questions about your carbon contribution, we may have the answers.

Why are forests carbon sinks?

By recycling carbon, forest ecosystems play a major ecological role in the Earth's equilibrium. Trees draw carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere throughout their lives and store it in their trunks, branches, roots and leaves, releasing oxygen (O2) into the air in return. This is made possible by the photosynthesis mechanism, which enables trees to produce energy (sugar) using CO2, water and the sun. In this way, all the trees growing together form an ecosystem that extracts carbon dioxide and stores it over the long term.

What is the difference between contributing by buying trees and buying carbon credits?

When you buy one or more trees, your ecological contribution is accompanied by ownership of the tree or trees you buy. These trees grow in our European forests and are managed by our skilled forestry team from the beginning to the end of their cycle. However, the entire profit of their felling goes to you when the trees are mature enough to be harvested through careful selection. You receive a certificate that states your tree ownership. By acquiring carbon removal credits, you enable a forest stand to be maintained for at least a hundred years, with several generations of trees sequestering carbon over the long term. In this way, you receive a carbon certificate for each credit that justifies the capture of the equivalent of 1 tonne of CO2. These two solutions enable you to contribute to the development of forest ecosystems and their biodiversity. Remember that the forest stand is subject to the permanence clause for carbon credits, whereas the tree itself is not permanent (for more details, see our white paper on carbon credits)

Is carbon offsetting compulsory?

Carbon offsetting can be seen as claiming a right to keep polluting: I continue to emit as much CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere, in exchange for which I compensate by buying trees, carbon credits or other actions that help to reduce the stock of GHGs in the atmosphere. That's why we prefer the principle of ecological contribution, which is a gift to nature that benefits us all and simultaneously reduces our carbon footprint. Therefore, The contribution is voluntary, whereas carbon offsetting sounds like an obligation. It is indeed necessary to offset our collective carbon footprint to achieve global carbon neutrality as quickly as possible, but what is done voluntarily is always preferable to what is done under duress and is seen as an obligation.

What can you do to reduce your carbon footprint?

To remarkably reduce our carbon footprint, we must change some lifestyle habits. This means paying attention to how we travel (transport is still one of the leading causes of CO2 emissions), how we heat our homes, and how we consume and produce. At the same time, it is also possible to support concrete, sustainable ecological actions such as the planting and management of mixed-species forests with continuous cover, the development of actions in favour of biodiversity (planting honey hedges for insects, restoring ponds, etc.) or the purchase of high-qualitycarbon removal credits that support these sustainable, local and verifiable ecological actions.

Can reducing one individual's carbon footprint help curb climate change?

Carbon neutrality makes no sense on the scale of one individual or a company; it can only be achieved on a global scale, and we need to get there as quickly as possible to curb the effects of climate change, which are already underway. It will, however, be achieved by the sum of individual and collective efforts. So we can say that reducing an individual's carbon footprint helps to slow climate change, even if it takes everyone working together to achieve a convincing overall result. It's the story of Pierre Rabhi's hummingbird: its contribution to putting out the fire is just a drop of water, but the drops of water form the small streams, creating the rivers that fill the seas. Setting an example is also very important; some people need to start the ball rolling to encourage others to do the same.

What is a carbon credit and what is it used for?

As part of the fight against global warming, a compensation mechanism has been developed under the name of carbon credit. First, on a regulated market to force companies in the most polluting industrial sectors to limit and offset their greenhouse gas emissions, then on a voluntary carbon market to support other companies desire to make an ecological contribution. Today, individuals can also join this global effort to achieve carbon neutrality. By financially supporting the capture of a tonne of CO2 through Nature-based Solutions, an afforestation project, for example, where you receive a carbon credit in exchange. This becomes a security that can be resold or traded on the voluntary carbon market. The quality carbon credits issued on this market thus make it possible to support actions to enhance nature and combat the effects of climate change. There are various types of credits, but the most valuable are carbon capture credits.

How do you mitigate a tonne of CO2?

When we talk about tonnes of CO2 to be mitigated, it is crucial to understand that we are talking about CO2 equivalent: a unit of measurement that covers all the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. Strictly speaking, CO2 is not the only gas whose excess emissions need to be offset; it is referred to as CO2 for convenience. To rebalance the proportion of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, we need to capture as much of it as possible. Of course, once again, this only makes sense in terms of avoiding and reducing emissions. We can work to sequestrate all the CO2 we can. Still, the fact remains that the extraction of fossil carbon that we have been doing for over a century has already led to disruptions in the biosphere's global carbon cycle that we will not be able to repair on our own scale. After all, this carbon cycle has been in place for 4 billion years. So, first and foremost, we need to reduce our carbon-based energy consumption. Once this has been done, it is possible to contribute to forming carbon sinks capable of sequestering carbon over the long term. Given thata tree absorbs around 25 kg of CO2 per year, which is an average to be used with a thousand precautions, as everything depends on the species of tree, its age, the climate and soil in which it grows and the ecosystem in which it is located, we can conclude that it takes around half a century of tree growth for it to sequester a tonne of CO2. As mentioned above, this kind of figure should be treated with caution (not least because a tree does not capture all the greenhouse gases and is not permanent in the sense of the criteria for eligibility for carbon credits, whereas a forest stand is). Still, it gives an idea of how long nature has to work to reabsorb what we have emitted in a concise space.

What is carbon neutrality?

Carbon neutrality is becoming more and more commonplace, whereas it would be better to aim for net zero emissions. Carbon neutrality is the objective set by most of the world's major states to limit the rise in global temperatures and all the damage that goes with it. However, carbon neutrality implies offsetting greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions without necessarily reducing them beforehand or at the same time. Some companies claim to be carbon neutral because they have offset all their emissions by purchasing carbon credits. Unfortunately, while achieving carbon neutrality is a significant first step, it will not be enough to counter the negative effects of our GHG emissions. Being carbon neutral means we absorb as much CO2 as we emit every year or for every action. But since we have emitted a surplus of carbon over the last two centuries, we need to go further and go beyond carbon neutrality by reducing the surplus of carbon already emitted. It's like having to pay off our ancestors' debt. We can start by avoiding leaving more debt to our children, but the ideal would be to leave them a world that is no longer saddled with debt.