Brighter Planet Survey Leads to New Model of Offset Sales and Environmentalism

| By Patti Prairie CEO, |

Let’s be frank.  Carbon offsets are controversial.  And so apparently is global warming.  Just 57% of Americans, according to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and People & the Press’s , think there’s solid evidence that the earth is warming.  That’s down 14% from a year ago.

Worse still, just when scientists are remarkably aligned on the climate crisis, 2 out of 3 Americans think that global warming is not a serious problem or even caused by humans.  And when it comes to carbon offsets, the public’s attitude toward offsets is tepid.  Consumers are wary of intangible products, and their distrust of large, distant offset projects is deepened by political discourse in the media.

The once promising growth of individual offset sales is stalling as the U.S. economy sputters.  The reported that the voluntary offset market grew 187% from 2007 to 2008 while individual purchases fell by 25%.  It’s tempting to brush off individuals as a negligible sliver of the broader offset market, but when governments at every level are struggling to secure voter support for legislative climate action, public perception of carbon offsets is critical.

We recently surveyed our customers to better understand their mental models.

We found that:

• The majority of respondents were under the age of 35; 29% were 18-24, 36% were 25-34, 13% were 35-44, 9% were 45-55, and 13% were over 55.  Gender was 49% female and 51% male.

• When asked “how green do you consider yourself,” 3 out of 4 consider themselves ‘medium green’ and embrace sustainability in their daily life, recycle, walk or take public transportation, and use CFLs.

• Top answers to “rate the factors in your decision to take steps at Brighter Planet” were combating climate change, offsetting my carbon footprint, investing in community-based climate solutions, and trustworthiness of Brighter Planet.

• Environmental and social co-benefits beat out additionality and verification as most compelling attributes of offset projects, with 93% of respondents rating them as very or quite important.

• When respondents rated offset projects from high to low interest, wind turbines and solar projects tied for the top spot.  Reforestation, efficiency projects, landfill gas to energy, and dairy methane were of lower interest.

• When asked “how many companies do you do business with because of their environmental record,” 33% of respondents said most, 46% said some, 18% said few, and 3% said none.

Taking into account this and other research, we’ve developed a new model at Brighter Planet.  The video, “Your Planet, Brighter” expresses it in animation in 2 ½ minutes:

The new ‘s smart, agile carbon profiler helps people, no matter their “greenness” or scientific interest, take meaningful steps to understand, reduce, and offset their footprint.   A library of conservation tips provides bite-sized, achievable actions to reduce emissions and save money.

Members can track their conservation efforts over time, and tweak or thoroughly revamp their lifestyles.   Yet they still emit greenhouse gases and further reductions may not be possible, or as affordable as investing in emission reductions through carbon offsets. They want to support projects that fight climate change, and the evidence suggests they value tangible projects with social benefits.

Our customers can purchase or earn them as rewards with their We hand pick the very best domestic offset projects that contribute genuine value to their local communities from top-rated project originators, and a panel of environmental leaders unanimously endorses every offset project we add to our portfolio.

Our adds grassroots climate stimulus to our new model.  Every time a customer buys or earns an offset, we donate to the fund to seed neighborhood-scale solutions that help people fight climate change in their community.  Each month, as our “Microgrants for Climate Projects”  video shows, members vote to decide which projects get funded:

An August 2009 reported that the percentage of Internet users using services to share status updates rose to 19%, almost double the April 2009 figure.  Each Brighter Planet member’s dashboard automatically displays an ever-changing newsfeed of their environmental activity – and that of friends that they follow.  Members can now network and encourage one another to reduce their footprint.

A majority of Americans are concerned about climate change and want to help fight it.  The future of consumer carbon offsets may well be to continue finding ways to forge a combination of the economic efficiency of offsets as commodities, and the grassroots social capital of community-powered campaigns. Certainly both are important elements of a successful solution to climate change and any synergy that helps them both to succeed will be positive.

Posted on November 11, 2009 · in Learn