PLANET DIARIES: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CARBON NEUTRAL

ALL FOOTPRINTS CAN FADE

Our world shows signs of durability in every corner, from animals thriving in the harshest of environments to forests sprouting from the ashes of devastation, but like many things, a delicate balance is required to ensure its survival. Your carbon footprint represents the impact you have on that balance.

With climate change an ever-growing threat, most of us are familiar with (or have heard) the phrase carbon footprint.

It essentially represents the amount of greenhouse gases an individual, organisation or community releases into the atmosphere. 

For individuals, the size of your carbon footprint depends on factors such as the number of flights you take each year or the food you eat. And for companies, it incorporates everything from product delivery to how staff commute to work.

Carbon footprints might be invisible, but the impact they have on our planet isn’t.

STRIKING A BALANCE

The important question is - how do we get rid of those footprints? Well, according to the CarbonNeutralⓇ Protocol, when a business is certified carbon neutral, it means that the greenhouse gas emissions associated with it have been reduced to zero for a given time period. In other words, its carbon footprint no longer exists.

You might be wondering how a business can neutralise its carbon footprint, and they do so by investing in projects around the world that benefit the planet.

As a certified CarbonNeutralⓇ company, Tropic helps fund sustainable schemes in order to counteract the greenhouse gases we emit through essential business activities.

We essentially give more than we take away. 

Strive for a solution 

There's no denying that the increase in greenhouse gases paint a terrifying picture. The levels of carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere is considered to be well over the stated safe limit. 

However, our leafy friends are great at helping to lower these levels. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, storing them and producing oxygen in their place, so preserving them is crucial to our planet’s wellbeing. They're essentially nature's air purifiers!

We're big fans of trees here at Tropic, and that’s one of the reasons why we invest in the Acre Amazonian Rainforest Conservation project in South America. An initiative that aims to protect biodiverse habitats by preventing deforestation across 105,000 hectares of pristine forest.

Currently 90% of Brazil’s Acre state is forest, but if the current rates of destruction continue, this could decline to 65% by 2030 - that would mean losing a whole lot of trees. 

Not only does this project aid the immediate area and its biodiversity, but preserving these forests indirectly benefits the whole planet.

CHANGE IN MOTION

Tropic has also recently started supporting another project. The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve works with local communities to protect 65,000 hectares of forests in Indonesia from the threat of unsustainable palm oil conversion.

Unsustainable palm oil production causes many ecological problems for our planet, but one you may be more familiar with is the destruction it causes to habitat for endangered species such as orangutans.

The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve partners with the Orangutan Foundation International to rescue orangutans orphaned by deforestation and rehabilitates them back into the wild.

We are all responsible for our own carbon footprint, and if we all make an effort to reduce the impact we have on the world then the benefits could be huge.

We can all take steps towards a healthier, greener, more empowered world, without leaving as many footprints behind us.