Yes, Throw Money At It

We can’t wish a climate change solution into existence. But we can pay for one.

By Peak Design

December 3^rd, 2019

Hey folks, Peter here from Peak Design.

If I had a nickel for every time someone told me that we shouldn’t be allowed to pay our way out of polluting, I’d have a pretty decent pile of nickels. And if I put those nickels toward paying to remove carbon from the atmosphere, I’d be helping to solve climate change.

That’s because climate change is a problem of economics, not a problem of technology.

Economists have been saying this for years. We know how to abate carbon. What we don’t have is the policy to make us pay for the abatement of carbon and the switch over to a carbon-free economy.

I had always assumed that the cost of switching to a carbon-free economy was so overwhelmingly expensive that it was almost impossible to consider. But it’s actually not that expensive. In fact, it’s downright affordable.

Project Drawdown claims to be, and in my opinion is, the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reduce global warming. It’s a thumping good read, and I suggest you read it. In the meantime, I’ll sum it up for you: to avert climate catastrophe, the writers believe that it would take about $29 trillion spent across about 100 low-carbon technologies and policies between now and 2050.

In other words, the cost of reversing climate change is roughly a trillion dollars a year for the next 30 years.

Okay so how about some context. Consider that right now, the gross world product (our global economic activity) is about $90 trillion a year, a number that’s growing by about 3.5% each year. That annual trillion dollars for fighting climate change could be more appropriately stated as roughly 1% of worldwide spending per year.

Let that sink in. If we could just put one cent for every dollar we spend toward carbon mitigation or sequestration, we’d likely halt climate change’s worst consequences. I’m not just making this up: hundreds of scientists and economists have come to the same conclusion.

Is that clear yet? Solutions to climate change exist and can be implemented for 1 cent of every dollar we spend.

I'll say it again: if we chose to put 1% of our spending toward mitigating climate change, we would mitigate climate change.

HOLY SH*T! WHAT IN THE HELL ARE WE WAITING FOR?

Is that news to you? Because it was news to me. And while 1% of all dollars spent is nothing to sneeze at, it’s far from unattainable or astronomical. The US spends 3.5% of its GDP on defense alone. I believe we can set 1% aside to solve climate change.

And, while it is certainly tough to enact global policy that makes sure everyone is accountable for carbon emissions, that doesn’t mean we can or should do nothing. Difficultly is no excuse for inaction.

This is what Climate Neutral Certified is all about. We have created a label (and an independent nonprofit org) which very clearly signals to consumers which companies have paid to mitigate their carbon emissions. It’s pretty straight forward: if you see the Climate Neutral Certified label, that business has paid to clean up their carbon.

I can hear you now...

You: "Wait, just PAYING to clean up their carbon?!"

Me: "Yes. Exactly that."

Let’s discuss the carbon offset mechanism. We can use Peak Design as an example. Like all businesses, we have a carbon footprint. This footprint will begin to dwindle as the world changes from fossil fuels to electric vehicles and clean energy. But this will take at least 30 years, and no single company can force that sort of change on a rapid time scale.

Peak Design actively pursues all sorts of endeavors to shrink our footprint, but that doesn’t change the core problem: all businesses will continue to have carbon footprints for the foreseeable future. It is currently impossible for a company like Peak Design to emit zero carbon.

But do you know what is very possible? Estimating (with a high degree of confidence) the amount of emissions Peak Design is responsible for. It is also very possible to look at these measurements and take an equivalent amount of greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere. For example, the majority of carbon that Peak Design has sequestered came from paying to put a cap over a landfill in South Carolina. That landfill was spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every second of every day. But our money has paid to keep those gases out of the atmosphere.

There are forests to protect in Brazil, seagrasses to plant in Puerto Rico, wind farms to build in Texas, no-till farming to incentivize in the American Heartland. All of these activities (and many, many more) either suck greenhouse gases out of the air or prevent them from getting there in the first place. And all of these activities require the money from offsets to be financially feasible.

Everybody loves the idea of investments in clean energy and carbon sequestration. But many are turned off when they hear the term "offsets." I'm here to deliver the tough news: these are EXACTLY the same thing.

Right now, the cost of offsetting carbon is still only around $5/tonne. Why is it so cheap? Because the low hanging fruit of offsetting projects are still available for investment. As demand goes up for carbon offsets, the projects will become more complicated, and the price per tonne will rise.

And that’s ok.

It currently costs Peak Design just 0.2% of our revenue to offset our entire annual footprint. That’s $90,000 to offset all of our 2018 carbon footprint, and we were happy to pay it. Even if the cost quintupled, we would happily pay it. Because we can afford it, because it's the right thing to do, and because paying now is cheaper than paying later.

There are just 9 days left to back Climate Neutral Certified on Kickstarter.

If you're an individual, you can back the campaign and pay to offset your own carbon footprint. You can directly invest in climate change solutions.