Start onsetting

Unlike carbon offsets that can be purchased to ‘neutralise’ greenhouse gas emissions, onsets support measurable achievements that improve social and ecological systems. They can take many forms yet are all a verifiable commitment to removing more carbon dioxide than an individual or entity generates, and replacing or sequestering it for long periods of time.

For example; the regeneration of forests, rivers, farms, and wildlife populations, can be an onset. A quantifiable improvement in women’s lives can be an onset. The price of an onset can be based on the carbon footprint of a family, project or company and used to purchase a credit from a reputable broker or turned into a cash donation that directly supports onset projects.

ReGeneration

ReGeneration’s mission is to bring humanity into alignment with the living world in order to end the climate crisis in one generation. It is a response to the urgency of the climate crisis, a growing set of interlocking initiatives that unlock our collective agency.

• Learn about onsets and take actions to support and participate as an individual, group, company or government body.

Calculate the carbon footprint of your household and determine how many credits would be necessary to go beyond neutralizing your emissions.

Use an online calculator such as this one. Support projects, organizations, or regenerative enterprises that reduce greenhouse gases while advancing social and ecological health. Projects and their accomplishments need to be verified with a protocol used by a credible carbon trader. Organizations such as Gold Standard and ClimeCo provide financial support to projects that improve carbon levels in the soil through regenerative agriculture and reforestation. Examples:

• The Sodo/Humbo project, located in Ethiopia, is reforesting degraded land as part of a long-term restoration plan. The work is done by community members and uses a methodology developed in Niger called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), which regrows trees from existing stumps. The verifier estimates the project will sequester one million tons of CO2 (equivalent). The project has restored eight thousand acres of land with indigenous tree species. It has increased local sources of food and improved the well-being of fifty thousand people in the area.
• Empower.Co connects the W + Standard to mission-aligned buyers throughout the world. These “empowerment units” are sold to foundations, companies and other buyers and the funds are directed back to women at the local level who then determine how to spend the money. Women are not the investment but the investors.

Start onsetting is part of a larger collective response. Learn more and find other actions about changing what we measure and incentivise.

Know of any other resources? Get in touch.