Project Overview

Goals: Destroy Greenhouse Gases & Produce Renewable Energy.

 

Our Projects

Terrapass funds projects that reduce and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. We do this by supporting projects in communities across North America and the world through the sale of carbon credits.

 

What types of projects do we support?

Landfill gas capture: Landfill gas capture projects turn garbage into power. As organic waste breaks down, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas 84 times more powerful than CO2. According to the EPA , landfills are the third largest source of methane emissions in the United States. Through the installation of gas collection and control systems, these projects result in the destruction of powerful greenhouse gases, and the gas can be burned in a generator to create renewable electricity.

Forestry: As trees grow, they absorb CO2 and store it in trunks and branches. According to the World Resources Institute, forests remove 7.6 billion metric tons of CO2 per year. Forestry carbon credit projects enhance removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by protecting trees from logging, allowing them to grow to fuller maturity. Protecting forests also has the added benefit of preserving wildlife habitats and biodiversity.

Industrial emissions reduction: Some industrial gases have very high Global Warming Potentials (GWP). A high GWP means that an equal amount of these gasses cause much more global warming than CO2. Preventing the release of these gases to the atmosphere is important for reducing global warming. One such class of gasses are ozone-depleting substances (ODS) used in insulating foams and refrigeration equipment. ODS carbon credit projects collect and destroy ODS foams before these gases are released to the atmosphere. Another class of these gasses are hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) which are used as refrigerants in commercial applications. HFC carbon credit projects reclaim used HFCs for reuse to prevent these gases from escaping to the atmosphere and to avoid the production of new HFC gases.

 

Clean energy from wind power: Wind energy displaces electricity that is generated by dirty fossil fuels like gas and coal (the way that most power is currently generated in the United States). In this sense, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that are avoided depends upon the “carbon profile” of the electricity grid where the energy is produced. The carbon profile of each regional grid is calculated periodically by the US Environmental Protection Agency by adding up the weighted average carbon dioxide emissions of all commercial energy sources on that regional grid.

 

Abandoned coal mine methane capture: Coal mines are a major source of methane emissions in the US, as methane gas naturally exists in coal beds and is released into the atmosphere through mine shafts. Methane escapes both from active mines and from abandoned mines that have reached the end of their useful life. Terrapass only supports methane capture projects at abandoned coal mines, as we seek to avoid providing any benefit or incentive to companies involved in mining operations.  Like other methane capture projects, powerful greenhouse gases are destroyed and can also be used to generate electricity, thus providing a “double” benefit.

 

How do I know these are high quality projects?

Terrapass supports specific carbon credit standards, which assure transparency and quality in the creation, quantification, and verification of offset projects. These standards require that offsets be real, additional (i.e., they wouldn’t have happened under a “business as usual” scenario), permanent, quantifiable, never double-counted or double-sold, and independently verified.

Currently, Terrapass uses the Verified Carbon Standard, Gold Standard, American Carbon Registry and the Climate Action Reserve as our primary carbon credit standards. Learn more about these standards.

 

How do I know that the projects are actually making a difference?

Terrapass ensures our carbon credit are making a difference in several ways. Prior to adding a project to our portfolio, we perform due diligence to fully understand the impact of each project. Once the project is in our portfolio, we review the reported emission reductions. Finally, all projects in our portfolio must pass the “additionality” test. Additionality refers to the concept of whether your carbon credit purchase really brings about carbon reductions, or whether the reductions would have happened anyway. If the purchase of carbon credits is a critical factor in making the reductions happen, the reductions are said to be “additional” to the business-as-usual case. By verifying and checking at each step in the process, we are committed to making sure our projects are restoring the balance.  Learn more about our Terrapass portfolio accountability.