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The Carbon LedgerCarbon, offsets and emissions

A plain-language magazine on carbon footprints, offsets and climate action, written for households, small businesses and students.

Measuring carbon, and what to do with the number

Plain-language carbon footprint, offset and emissions guides. Measure what counts, understand what an offset really retires, and rank the changes that cut the most.

Start with the measuring guideOpen the calculator

A wide Sonoran desert landscape at golden hour with wind turbines on a low ridge, young planted trees and a distant solar array
Desert landscapes carry both the new infrastructure and the storage that offsets depend on; the guides cover what each really delivers.

Start with the sections

Three sections, from measurement to action

Each section opens with an index of its guides. Pick the measurement, the offset market, or the changes that reduce emissions.

  1. A kitchen table with a stack of utility bills seen face down, a blank notebook, a pen and a cup of coffee in morning light.
    01

    Measuring a Footprint

    How a carbon footprint is built: the activity data, the emission factors, and why the boundary you choose changes the total.

    3 guides inside

  2. A wide open landscape at golden hour with a wind turbine and young planted trees along a low ridge.
    02

    Offsets and Credits

    Offsets and credits separated, the path from purchase to retired credit, and how to read a carbon claim before you trust it.

    4 guides inside

  3. A home exterior with new insulation panels stacked by the wall and a bicycle leaning beside a parked car in the driveway.
    03

    Cutting Emissions

    The changes that cut emissions most, ranked: home energy first, then transport, then the path a small business can follow.

    5 guides inside

Section 1 of 3

Measuring a Footprint

How a carbon footprint is built: the activity data, the emission factors, and why the boundary you choose changes the total.

  • A closed laptop seen from behind on a wooden kitchen table beside a utility bill and a cup of coffee in morning light.

    Measuring a Footprint

    Carbon Footprint Calculator

    Estimate a household carbon footprint from electricity, heating, car mileage, flights and waste, and see which input changes the yearly total the most.

    Five inputs, one annual estimate, and the sources behind it.

  • A family home at dusk with warm lights on and a parked car in the driveway, desert shrubs along the wall.

    Measuring a Footprint

    Household Carbon Footprint

    See which household activities count toward a personal carbon footprint, from home energy and driving to food and waste, and where those estimates come from.

    Home energy, driving, flying, and the softer lines.

  • A small workshop bench with a clipboard of blank forms, a hard hat, safety glasses and an industrial meter on the wall.

    Measuring a Footprint

    Business Carbon Footprint

    A plain guide to a company carbon footprint: what falls in scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3, which data to collect and why the boundary changes the total.

    Scope 1, scope 2, scope 3: what sits where.

Open the Measuring a Footprint index

Section 2 of 3

Offsets and Credits

Offsets and credits separated, the path from purchase to retired credit, and how to read a carbon claim before you trust it.

  • Two hands holding a plain folded document with a blank surface beside a closed laptop on a desk in soft daylight.

    Offsets and Credits

    How Carbon Offsets Work

    Follow what happens when you buy a carbon offset: the project, the registry, the retired credit and the tonne of CO2 that stands behind the claim.

    From payment to a retired credit with a serial number.

  • A field auditor with a clipboard inspecting rows of young trees on a replanted slope under a clear sky.

    Offsets and Credits

    How Offsets Are Verified

    Learn how offset projects are verified, what registries record, why additionality and permanence matter and how to check a certificate yourself.

    Additionality, permanence, and the registry record.

  • A landfill gas capture plant beside green fields with pipes and a flare stack under a wide cloudy sky.

    Offsets and Credits

    Types of Offset Projects

    Compare the main carbon offset project types: clean energy, reforestation and avoided deforestation, and methane capture, with their strengths and their risks.

    Clean energy, forests and methane, with their risks.

  • A supermarket aisle seen from a distance with shelves of unbranded produce and shallow depth of field.

    Offsets and Credits

    Reading Carbon Labels

    Read a carbon label or a company claim without being misled: what a product footprint covers, what carbon neutral means and which wording to question.

    Carbon neutral, net zero and the words in between.

Open the Offsets and Credits index

From the archive

Guides that keep their historical addresses

This domain published a carbon consulting site from 2008 to 2014, with footprint calculators, offset guidance and an education programme. These guides answer the questions those pages answered, at the same addresses.

Section 3 of 3

Cutting Emissions

The changes that cut emissions most, ranked: home energy first, then transport, then the path a small business can follow.

  • A technician fitting loft insulation in a bright attic with rolls of material and a work lamp.

    Cutting Emissions

    Home Energy Changes That Cut Emissions

    Rank the home changes that cut emissions most, from heating and insulation to appliances and lighting, with the running costs and payback to expect.

    Insulate first, then controls, then the system at replacement.

  • A small efficient car parked at a charging point beside a train line crossing open countryside at dawn.

    Cutting Emissions

    Driving and Transport Emissions

    Work out how much driving and flying add to a footprint, compare car, rail and air, and see which transport changes actually move the yearly total.

    Distance and efficiency together, and the flight that dwarfs both.

  • The counter of a small independent shop with a card reader and a crate of goods by the door in daylight.

    Cutting Emissions

    Becoming a Carbon Neutral Business

    A step by step path for a small business to cut emissions, offset the rest and make a carbon neutral claim that stands up to scrutiny.

    Five steps a small business can actually follow.

  • A study desk with an open notebook of blank pages, a pen, a cup of coffee and a stack of closed books under warm lamp light.

    Cutting Emissions

    Carbon Training and Careers

    See what carbon accounting courses and training cover, which roles hire for these skills and how to build a first greenhouse gas inventory as practice.

    Standards, arithmetic, inventories and the roles that hire.

  • A blank notebook page with a pen and a cup of tea on a plain wooden table in soft daylight.

    Cutting Emissions

    Carbon Questions Answered

    Short answers to common carbon questions: offsets versus credits, personal versus business footprints, costs, additionality, double counting and where to start.

    The short answers, with links to the long ones.

Open the Cutting Emissions index

The reference shelf

Primary sources worth a bookmark

The Carbon Ledger sells nothing and answers to no offset provider. These are the public sources this magazine leans on: national emission factors, the accounting standard, the registries and the bodies that judge them.

  • Outside this site

    EPA Household Calculator

    The United States Environmental Protection Agency household calculator and the assumptions behind its emission factors.

    National factors and method, openly documented.

  • Outside this site

    Greenhouse Gas Protocol

    The accounting standard behind scope 1, 2 and 3, with the guidance documents published openly for anyone to read.

    The rulebook most reporting builds on.

  • Outside this site

    Verra

    A major standard and registry for carbon projects, publishing its methods and the public records of credits issued and retired.

    Methods and registry records in public.

  • Outside this site

    Gold Standard

    A standard and registry for climate and sustainable development projects, with its project documents available to check.

    Project documents open to inspection.

  • Outside this site

    ICVCM

    The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market, which publishes core carbon principles and assesses standards against them.

    Principles that judge the standards themselves.

  • Outside this site

    International Energy Agency

    Energy data and outlooks that explain how electricity grids are changing and what that means for emissions factors.

    Where grid emission trends come from.

The desk in pictures

Five views from the guides

Five photographs from the guides below, each with the page that explains the scene in full.