Air Canada ZeroCarbon

TechCrunch has an interesting story on Zerofootprint, a Canadian not-for-profit that helps businesses and consumers cut their carbon footprint. It's the company Air Canada recently partnered with to introduce its voluntary carbon credit program for customers. The carbon credit industry has been taking a lot of heat lately for not properly monitoring sellers to ensure proper carbon reduction. Zerofootrpint says they do not buy offsets from exchanges because of these concerns. Instead they work directly with sellers, usually tree growers, and make sure they are legally bound to leave the trees in perpetuity. According to the article, the company charges 10 percent over their cost when selling offsets. They say this helps cover their operating costs. Also, they buy offsets in bulk and in advance, and they have some capital risk. The company also just planted its Zerofootprint Seal on a consumer product for the first time. Zerofootprint says that the seal signifies that the materials and manufacturing process used to produce a product have virtually no negative environmental repercussions.