Healthy Planet: Good Business.

Tree planting offers companies a creative way to offset their carbon emissions.

Every year, the United States pumps more than 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to a coming change in the planet's climate and threatening to unleash a global environmental disaster. Of the U.S. total, one-third comes from individual households, while just over half results from business operations such as deliveries, manufacturing processes, and specialty chemicals.

Fortunately, many people--and more importantly, many businesses--are reducing their use of fossil fuels, the best long-term solution to the problem. At the same time, they are addressing the issue with creative, simple programs that offset the remaining amount of carbon dioxide they put into the atmosphere.

Public-private partnerships, such as AMERICAN FORESTS' Global ReLeaf Forests tree-planting projects, allow businesses to both lessen their impact and help restore healthy ecosystems, proving profits and nonprofits can work together to benefit both nature and the bottom line.

CREATIVE APPROACHES

No one yet knows exactly how the buildup of greenhouse gases will affect the earth's climate; even the best computer models sometimes disagree, particularly with regard to local effects. Regardless, some corporations have begun efforts such as setting up in-house trading systems to encourage subsidiaries to lower their greenhouse gas emissions or sponsoring offset projects like reforestation to ease their climate change impact.

Tree planting resonates with companies because trees offer a positive environmental impact--cleaner air and water and more wildlife habitat, for example--and therefore a "no regrets" approach to climate change. We all still benefit even if the climate doesn't change.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc planted trees this summer with AMERICAN FORESTS to offset all emissions related to the biennial meeting of its environment, health, and safety (EH&S) professionals.

"Pfizer has a comprehensive program to eliminate greenhouse gases associated with its manufacturing operations, but we decided to do something extra last year," says Chuck Reaves, manager for information and training. "By using AMERICAN FORESTS' carbon-debt calculator, we were able to offset all the [CO.sub.2] produced by each individual's travel and participation in our EH&S meeting, whether they came from New York or Beijing.

"It was a wonderful way to demonstrate to the participants that we can act as individuals as well as a corporation to help protect our environment and public health. Conference participants took this message back to their facilities and communities around the world.

"Also, as a global corporation, we were happy to learn that AMERICAN FORESTS could plant trees on Pfizer's behalf around the world."

HELP FROM NONPROFITS

For many companies though, the problem has been one of resources. The size and complexity of global climate change, and the science behind it, can seem overwhelming. Few guidelines are available to help those businesses find solutions, especially solutions that don't drain resources from their core operations.

"The small to mid-size companies we work with want to be out front on green issues, and the biggest issue of all is global climate change," says Sylvia Tawse of The Fresh Ideas Group, a Boulder, Colorado, public relations firm.

"They're looking for programs that can help them reduce their impact, but they can't spend a lot of time on it--they need to be nimble, efficient with their dollars, and run their businesses."

Turning to the nonprofit world for answers and advice on environmental issues such as climate change can allow these businesses to do just that.

For more than five years AMERICAN FORESTS has worked with large and small companies on the issue of climate change. Earthbound Farm, the nation's largest organic produce and specialty salad company, worked with AMERICAN FORESTS staff to measure and then offset the company's greenhouse gas emissions for 1998 and again for 1999.

"We were surprised at how easy it is to be part of the solution," says Myra Goodman, cofounder and executive vice president of Earthbound Farm. "AMERICAN FORESTS helped us measure our corporate emissions, and the result was that we learned where our operations are having the biggest impact. Once we knew the sources of our biggest emissions, we could begin to reduce them--and planting trees to offset the remainder was the logical next step."

Goodman and her children together selected four Global ReLeaf tree-planting projects to support with the company's tax-deductible donation. "My son Jeffrey chose a project that will plant Jeffrey pines in New Mexico," she recalls. "It was fun, and I want our children to know that the business their parents cofounded has grown--and so has its environmental impact."

FIGURING IT OUT

Both Pfizer and Earthbound Farm measured their emissions with AMERICAN FORESTS' online Climate Change Calculator (www.americanforests.org), explored ways to reduce those emissions, and then planted trees to offset what remained. The calculator makes it easy for both businesses and individuals to measure a year s worth of emissions by entering figures for such things as electrical use, fuel consumption, and airline travel.

The calculator automatically evaluates the climate change impact from carbon dioxide produced from daily activities and shows how many trees (three per ton of [CO.sub.2]) are needed to remove it from the atmosphere. Those trees can then be planted online in AMERICAN FORESTS' Global ReLeaf Forests ecosystem restoration projects.

"Scientifically, we know that planting trees is an effective means of fighting climate change," says Deborah Gangloff, AMERICAN FORESTS EXECUTIVE director, "but we also encourage our partners to reduce emissions too, as a longer-term solution."

Companies have a wide variety of options when considering which emissions to measure and offset. The ultimate approach, of course, offsets an organization's entire emissions "footprint" by planting three trees per ton of [CO.sub.2] emitted. Other options: offsetting emissions from a single business activity such as a meeting or event or focusing within the boundaries of a business operation such as delivery, manufacturing, or corporate travel.

A few companies are even looking at the end-use of a product and planting trees to offset the greenhouse gases that product will emit during its lifetime.

All these actions will become increasingly important because, as Myra Goodman puts it, in the long run "climate change is going to affect my children more than me, so I feel an obligation to do what I can to tread lightly on the planet."

Bob Leipold is director of development for AMERICAN FORESTS.

CALCULATING BUSINESS EMISSIONS

The majority of businesses' greenhouse gas emissions fall into one of four categories: electrical power, gas and diesel fuels for vehicles, airline travel, and special chemicals such as methane or refrigerants that, when produced or leaked, contribute to the greenhouse effect.

This fall, AMERICAN FORESTS plans to unveil on online calculator designed specifically to help large and small businesses measure their climate change impact. This new calculator will expand on the range of measurement options available on the existing Personal Climate Change Calculator. It will also offer a menu of planting options to make it simple for businesses to take part in the fight against global climate change. For more on the upcoming calculator, visit www.americanforests.org.