Yes, we are carbon neutral, and have been since we began in 2017. 

We achieve carbon neutrality by:

1. Measuring our carbon emissions through an annual GHG emissions inventory;
2. Incorporating climate conscious metrics into our daily operational decision making to reduce and avoid emissions generation wherever possible (our carbon management plan);
3. Participating in the UN Climate Neutral Now Pledge; and
4. Purchasing carbon offsets to arrive at a net zero carbon value.

See our Climate Neutral Now Pledge, Achievement Report, and our annual inventory results for 2021, 2020 and 2019.

Once our emissions inventory is complete each year, we purchase carbon offsets to cover at least double the amount of emissions generated by the operation of our business. We purchase offsets from the UN Carbon Offset Platform, Gold Standard, locally from Sharp Management, or from other credible sources involved in initiatives that we wish to support.  See the offset certificates for the 2021 inventory year here.

What does Carbon Neutral mean, exactly?

The term Carbon Neutral or Net Zero is typically used to refer to the idea that an organization (or individual) has purchased the quantity of offsets that is equivalent to the amount of GHGs they emitted over a certain time period, usually one year. For example, an organization that emitted 10 tonnes of GHGs (+10) and then purchases 10 offsets (-10) may claim that they have net-zero emissions or are carbon neutral for that particular year.

Within an organization, emphasis is ideally put on reducing or avoiding emissions wherever possible.  And the purchasing of carbon offsets is reserved for those emissions which cannot be avoided within the current context/energy supply infrastructure.

What is a carbon offset and where does it come from?

In the voluntary market – which applies to most organizations – a carbon offset is generated in two ways:

1. By accounting for a reduction or avoidance of GHG emissions due to a particular initiative that goes beyond “business as usual”. In other words, an offset is generated by comparing a conventional, high-carbon way of doing something (e.g. burning coal for electricity), with a lower-carbon alternative (e.g. turning wind or solar energy into electricity) thus avoiding a specified (and verified) volume of emissions over its lifespan compared to the ‘traditional’ route. Those carbon ‘savings’ are captured as offsets and are made available for purchase or trade.  Offsets from these projects do not correspond to a direct removal of carbon currently residing the atmosphere, but instead are a measure of emissions that are being avoided by a particular project.
2. Through carbon sequestration projects, such as a tree planting project or man-made carbon removal technologies.  While offsets from these types of projects do correspond to a direct removal of carbon from the atmosphere, note that tree planting efforts still require years of care for the saplings to ensure long term carbon sequestration (and the trees may be subject to wildfire or other disturbances that end up releasing the carbon back into the air again despite our best efforts); and that man-made carbon removal and storage technologies are currently being developed, but are still quite limited and uncertain.   

It is important to note the different sources of carbon offsets, and to acknowledge that a large part of their value as a lever for climate action is nested in their usefulness as a financial mechanism to support ‘green’ projects.  Often, the ‘incremental’ cost of doing something more ‘green’ within a project becomes viable when there is an opportunity to generate revenue for the project through the sale of carbon offsets.

Given the various ways that carbon offsets are generated, one can understand that buying a carbon offset does not exactly translate into a ‘cancelling’ of the emissions impact of an organization or individual.  Once emissions are released, they are in the atmosphere and contribute to the current climate crisis.

However, buying offsets can have a positive global impact. Since each carbon offset is associated with a particular ‘green’ project somewhere in the world, purchasing offsets demonstrates an appreciation for these actions and encourages more of them. At minimum, offsets are like an investment in a climate positive future. Carbon offset markets were developed to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon future – despite the uncertainties and nuances associated with the system, there is evidence that supports their overall benefits.

Where can I buy carbon offsets?

There are many places to buy carbon offsets in the voluntary market.  Note that the regulated markets are specific to very large industry and are not applicable to most organizations.

We recommend, first, developing and implementing a carbon management plan, and second, purchasing offsets from projects which have followed international standards and are recognized by top tier groups such as CSA and the UN.  These bodies review the projects for critical factors including whether the calculated emissions savings/removals from a project are accurate, whether they are truly ‘additional’ or beyond what would have occurred anyway, and whether they have significant social impact. Gold Standard is as it sounds – the most rigorous global standard for certifying carbon offsets.

Fundamental Inc. has purchased offsets from several sources for different reasons.

• CSA certified offsets generated in Newfoundland and Labrador – these offsets are sold by Sharp Management and are associated with municipal engineered wetland wastewater treatment systems in Stephenville and Appleton-Glenwood. Wetland-based wastewater treatment is a low-carbon, climate-resilient, and low life-cycle cost infrastructure solution that we hope to see implemented more widely across the province and world. 50% of the offset sales are returned to the municipalities and 50% are used to fund future municipal projects. All around, this is an initiative we support.
• United Nations certified offsets – the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) certifies its own offset projects in line with the Clean Development Mechanism, focusing on initiatives in developing countries with multiple benefits. The UN’s Climate Neutral Now initiative is a simple and free framework to help organizations measure and reduce their emissions and contribute to these offset projects. Fundamental Inc. has taken the Climate Neutral Now pledge.
• Gold Standard offsets – similar to the UN offsets, Gold Standard certifies projects across the world that maximize contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (poverty elimination, health and wellbeing, clean water, etc.) and the Paris Climate Agreement (global commitment to limit warming to 1.5°C).
• For the 2021 inventory year, we also supported Tradewater, a company that finds and destroys unused refrigerants that are bound to leak into the atmosphere. Refrigerants have extremely high global warming potentials – thousands of times more than CO₂ – so we believe this initiative is worthy of support and are confident that each carbon offset truly corresponds to a tonne of CO₂e emissions prevented. Tradewater offsets are verified through the American Carbon Registry.