Understanding the Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint is the best estimate that we can get of the full climate change impact of something.

Carbon Footprint is measured CO₂e, short for carbon dioxide equivalent.

It is simply a way of describing an object or action’s overall contribution to global warming, taking into account CO₂, as well as other greenhouse gases such a methane and nitrous oxide.

1 ton of CO₂ looks like

For the capture of 1 tonne of CO₂ emissions…

50 trees must grow for one year¹

1 Please realize this is an approximation. This can vary a lot per location, type of tree(s), weather conditions, etc. Most calculations show carbon capture per hectare. One hectare can vary from 500 to 1500 trees. In other calculations we found that 15 to 83 trees are needed to capture 1 tonne CO2 in average per year, from seedling till an adult adult tree. In the tropics there will be fewer trees needed to store 1 ton of CO2 than in the northern hemisphere, because trees grow faster around the equator. We have chosen for 50 trees per year needed in order to capture 1 tonne of CO2. Important is that forestry projects are protected against deforestation and wildfires, which is guaranteed via VCS or Gold Standard certification.

Making sense of the numbers

Your CO₂ savings equivalents explained

Carbon dioxide equivalent describes an object or action’s overall contribution to global warming. It takes into account CO₂ as well as other gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.

Qoolomb translates your CO₂ savings into equivalents that help you understand the scale of your impact.