Carbon Balanced Programme
The Carbon Balanced Programme, operated by the international biodiversity conservation organization the World Land Trust (WLT), provides small- to medium-sized organizations and private individuals with an opportunity to measure and offset their carbon footprint. The Carbon Balanced projects offset emissions through the restoration and preservation of critically threatened tropical habitats of high biodiversity value. All core WLT-designed projects are located in Ecuador, and are owned and managed by WLT partner NGO Jocotoco Foundation, which is well-placed to use its specialist conservation and community knowledge. A limited volume of emissions have also been offset by the Sierra Gorda Ecological Group, a Mexican conservation organization and WLT partner.
All projects are rigorously designed according to the principals of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) standard for voluntary carbon offsetting, although they are not actually submitted for validation because individual projects are not of sufficient scale. In addition to meeting the required carbon offsetting criteria, all projects are designed to satisfy the WLT's own standards for biodiversity conservation value. Offsets are priced toward the upper bounds of the voluntary market, at £15/tCO2, in order to ensure that they deliver significant positive biodiversity conservation benefits as well as offsetting emissions. Carbon Balanced offsets are not tradeable and are purchased primarily for Corporate Social Responsibility purposes.
Current project locations in Ecuador:
- Buenventura, El Oro Province;
- Yanacocha, Pichincha Province;
- Tapichalaca, Zamora-Chinchipe Province;
- Rio Canande, Esmeraldas Province.
Information concerning project area and offset volume has been aggregated across all Carbon Balanced projects in Ecuador.