Live Climate connects you to projects in low income communities that reduce carbon dioxide and benefit local people and the local environment.
We also want offset consumers like you to know where your money goes, and how your offsets fight climate change and help people.
Our Mission
- To enable everyone to support carbon offset projects that have positive impacts on local people, communities and environments. Live Climate seeks to support these projects by creating a marketplace in which these positive “co-benefits” are fully valued by socially and environmentally minded donors who seek to offset their carbon emissions.
- To educate developed country consumers about the need for immediate action to address climate change, and about the potential of carbon offset projects to address poverty and environmental degradation around the world.
Live Climate gives you the choice of which project to support and shares with you the stories of those who benefit. By supporting carbon offset projects through Live Climate, you know where your offset money goes, and you know that it had a positive impact on local communities in addition to reducing carbon in the atmosphere.
How Live Climate is Direct
Live Climate finds projects that create independently verified carbon offsets in low income communities. We highlight these projects on our site and allow you to donate so we can support the operation of the offset project you have chosen.
In exchange for your support, offset projects “retire” carbon offsets that they have created or are in the process of creating. This means that the carbon offset your donation supports cannot be used, or sold to anyone else. Your donation goes to the project that created your offset. If the project you select prefers that we pay up front, then your donation reimburses Live Climate for funds already transferred, and allows us to send more funds to that project so that other donors can support the project in the future.
To support the Live Climate nonprofit organization, we charge a fee per ton that is included in your donation. Due to a generous donors who are helping cover most of our costs, and because we are in a pilot period, that fee is initially only $1 per ton. After the pilot period we will raise the fee to cover our operating costs. Our goal is to keep the fee as small and transparent as possible. Remember, our mission is to support these remarkable projects as they benefit communities and fight climate change. In contrast, most other offsets are sold at margins that average over 80% or more.
In summary, we want to transfer as much of your donation as possible to the sustainable development projects featured on Live Climate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do projects cost different amounts?
Since different projects spend different amounts for each ton of carbon they reduce, they request different amounts to offset each ton of carbon.
How is this different from other offset retailers?
Live Climate only features carbon offsets that not only reduce carbon emissions, but also improve lives and the environment in low income communities. We call these additional benefits “co-benefits.”
One of the frustrations people have with carbon offsets is that they don’t know where their money actually goes. Most retailers won’t reveal this. Live Climate tells you exactly how much money we take to provide our service to you, and how much of your donation goes to the sustainable development projects that we are passionate about supporting. Live Climate is unique in that it connects offsetters to the impact of their carbon offsets through a marketplace where they can directly support individual projects.
You won’t find any offsets on Live Climate that were created by large companies burning the methane released by coal mines or landfills. You also won’t find any offsets from the Chicago Climate Exchange. These offsets don’t have clear co-benefits, and they aren’t created in a way that supports low income communities. We think our customers want offsets that do more than just offset carbon.
How are Live Climate offsets verified?
Live Climate requires that all offsets be verified by an independent party. The details of the verification process of each project are provided under the “additional information” link of each project.
Some of the offsets on Live Climate are more expensive than those on other sites, why?
The projects that create Live Climate offsets don’t necessarily create offsets in the cheapest way possible. They have other goals such as the electrifying rural communities with solar power, or preserving ecosystems and providing small farmers with income. Achieving these goals, and working with smaller scale projects, can make offsets more expensive per ton of carbon removed from the atmosphere.
Is my donation tax deductible?
We are a brand new organization and are incorporated as a Non-profit Public Benefit Corporation in the state of California. We are awaiting 501c(3) status that allows donors to deduct donations from their taxes. Your donations are not tax deductible until the Internal Revenue Service reviews our application and grants us 501c(3) status.
We expect to be reviewed for this status by the end of 2008, but are aware of examples of the process taking longer. When an organization receives 501c(3) tax exempt status, any donations will become retroactively tax deductible. At that point, we will send you a letter confirming the tax-deductibility of your donation
Contact Us
Live Climate is based in Oakland, CA. To contact us, please email info@liveclimate.org