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Climate change is arguably the most crucial issues of our time and is the biggest environmental challenge that we face. While many of us agree that we must do something, it seems too vast a problem for any one of us to tackle, until now.

The Carbon Standard has been formed to make it easy and affordable for government, individuals, corporations and communities, their office buildings, schools, homes, meetings, events, conferences, celebrations, a business unit, product or brand to offset carbon emissions by planting trees in poor communities throughout South Africa.

In addition to sinking carbon, one of the major greenhouse gases and a primary contributor to climate change, these trees contribute to improved water, energy, soil and noise management, food security (fruit and nut trees), the enrichment of lives and the cultivation of healthier and more sustainable communities.

National greening organisation FTFA selects sites for the planting of the trees through its award winning Trees for Homes and National Tree Distribution programmes that are inundated with requests from underserved communities. They will arrange procurement, transport, delivery, training, some short term employment and planting of the trees with the beneficiary communities, issue a carbon offset certificate and list the tree funder on the website.

FTFA’s carbon calculator, the first South African calculator, on this site was developed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (the first African accredited carbon auditor) using the global Greenhouse Gas Reporting Protocol (GHG Protocol), which aims to standardize GHG accounting and reporting standards internationally to ensure that different trading platforms and other climate related initiatives adopt consistent approaches to GHG accounting, as well as averages and other information from two universities and carbon technical advisors.

This evaluates carbon emitted by a range of activities (energy usage for air conditioners, computers and copiers) land and air travel, mounds of paper and other carbon impacts and calculates out how many trees one would need to plant to sink that carbon through the process of photosynthesis. Trees are the most efficient and simple means for us to store carbon, providing us with the air we breathe and absorbing the carbon dioxide we exhale, and that our current carbon based society emits in large quantities.

Once the calculations are done for an individual, a company, agency, government department’s building or processes or products, FTFA selects sites for the planting of the trees through the Trees for Homes programme that is inundated with requests for fruit and indigenous trees from underserved communities. FTFA arranges the procurement, transport, delivery and planting of the trees with the beneficiary communities, issue a carbon offset certificate and lists the tree funder on the website.

The Carbon Standard marketing provides a powerful way for government departments, companies and others to increase their positioning, marketing and commitment to climate change and sustainable development, as well as creating political and social awareness of what we need to be doing to address the effects of climate change on communities and the environment. FTFA also provides public relations on request, included in the tree price.

To date ABN AMRO, Backsberg, De Beers, the International Design Indaba, Johannesburg Development Agency and PricewaterhouseCoopers have offset their carbon emissions from events or office activities through the Carbon Standard, resulting in the planting of over 17 000 trees in underserved communities. Backsberg Estate, a popular South African vineyard, has recently taken up the challenge, audited their emissions through FTFA, is offsetting these through planting trees for disadvantaged residents in their area and is using the Carbon Standard logo on all their wine bottles, which will further increase awareness. Member of Parliament, Lance Greyling, is one of the individuals who offsets the carbon emissions for every international flight he takes.

Leading environmental law practice Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs is the Carbon Standard’s legal advisor.

If you do not meet this basic Carbon Standard you are perpetuating the problem. The world we will leave for our children will be severely degraded. This is an initiative you cannot afford to ignore.

Contact info@trees.org.zaThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information or simply send in your electricity usage per month/year, your local and international travel figures per year and your paper usage per year and we will do the calculations and send you the number of trees needed to offset your emissions.