Carbon offsetting should never be the only response to climate change. We all have a responsibility to measure our carbon footprint and reduce it as best we can. However, with the best will in the world, reduction takes time and our infrastructure and supply chains are still carbon intensive. So as we start to reduce our residual carbon footprint is always significant and carbon offsetting is the only way to take responsibility for it.

As you reduce your carbon footprint as much as possible, carbon offsetting invests in projects which reduce emissions even further elsewhere. Because emissions disperse throughout the atmosphere, your net carbon footprint becomes smaller even if the reduction happens somewhere else.

Clear invests in carbon reduction projects in the developing world for three reasons.  Firstly it helps those who are least able to help themselves.  Secondly it achieves the most reduction for the money you spend.  And lastly the first world is responsible for most global warming anyway, so we feel it is fairer to invest in the developing world given the moral perspective.