New Service Launched to Help Customers Offset Shipping

A new service allows customers to calculate and offset the carbon impact of shipping individual packages.

ShipGreen uses a mathematical model to calculate the emissions of individual product shipment using the weight of each item, distance and means of travel, such as road, rail or air.

Similar services, the company claims, rely on flat rates or averages of all shipped products to calculate emissions figures and offset amount.

The service is geared toward online retailers, which can put a ShipGreen link on their websites that calculate of offset shipping. The ShipGreen service is free of charge for retailers.

During checkout, customers can choose an offset type, such as a wind, solar or forestry project. The company focuses on projects that are independently verified by third parties.

Projects include a hydropower plant in Indonesia, wind projects in Madagascar and New Zealand, a biomass facility in India, and a reforestation project in China.

ShipGreen co-founders Jason Sperling and Tim Buchanan also helped create the Prairie Tree Project in eastern Colorado, an afforestation venture that allows consumers personal offsets. The project also helps business audit their carbon footprints.

Arpad Horwath and Cristiano Facanha from the University of California, Berkeley, partnered with ShipGreen to create the emissions calculation model.

from: Climatebiz.com