Mission:
To conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.

Background:
A component of the Nature Conservancy's efforts to "make it easy to go green," the Carbon Footprint Calculatormeasures the impact individuals and households have on global climate change by calculating their daily contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. Average annual emissions for a resident of the U.S., for example, is 27 metric tons, compared with a world average of 5.5 metric tons.

Outstanding Web Features:
The carbon footprint calculator estimates how many metric tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases individuals and households create per year, based on choices related to home energy use, transportation options, food and diet, and recycling and waste disposal. Visitors to the site can calculate their total annual emissions overall and by category by entering the number of people in his/her household, the type of housing, use of energy-efficient appliances, type of vehicle and number of miles driven, consumption of meat and organic food, and recycling and composting habits. The results include a breakdown of each category's share of total emissions, a comparison with total emissions of the average U.S. resident, and a recommended carbon offsetcalculated at $15 per metric ton. Visitors to the site also can offset their carbon footprint through the Nature Conservancy Carbon Offset Program, which supports independently verified sequestration projects that meet the Verified Carbon Standard or Climate Action Reserve Forest Protocol.