Carbon offsets for American drivers
What a drive, a road trip or a year in your car costs to offset, and five ways to do it, from the cheapest credits to carbon turned to stone underground.
A year of driving the average car in the US
10,196 lb CO₂
Offset with forest in the US: $208. Cheapest: $37.00.
Work out your ownFive ways to offset, cheapest first
The cheaper credits pay to stop emissions somewhere else. The dearer ones take carbon back out of the air, and the more they cost, the longer it stays out.
| Way to offset | How long it lasts | Price | A year of driving |
|---|---|---|---|
Renewable energy Helps fund wind and solar farms that replace coal power. | Avoids emissions, removes none | $8 a tonne | $37.00 |
Clean cookstoves Swaps smoky open fires for efficient stoves, so families breathe cleaner air. | Avoids emissions, removes none | $18 a tonne | $83.25 |
Forest in the USOur pick Plants and protects native trees that take in CO₂ as they grow. | Decades | $45 a tonne | $208 |
Biochar Turns crop waste into charcoal that locks carbon into the soil. | Centuries | $160 a tonne | $740 |
Direct air capture Machines pull CO₂ out of the air and turn it to stone underground. | 10,000+ years | $600 a tonne | $2,775 |
What a drive costs to offset
For the average car in the US. A bigger or thirstier car puts out more; an electric one far less.
| Drive | CO₂ | Renewable energy | Forest in the US | Direct air capture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 miles | 88.7 lb | $1.00 | $1.82 | $24.15 |
| A 500-mile road trip | 443 lb | $1.61 | $9.06 | $121 |
| A year (11,500 miles) | 10,196 lb | $37.00 | $208 | $2,775 |
Small amounts are rounded up to a $1 minimum, which covers more CO₂ than the drive.
Avoid, then remove
Offsets come in two kinds. Avoidance credits pay for something that stops CO₂ being made somewhere else: a wind farm instead of a coal plant, a clean stove instead of an open fire. They're cheap, and the carbon you put out stays in the air.
Removal credits take CO₂ back out of the air. Trees do it for decades, biochar for centuries, and direct air capture turns it to stone for thousands of years. They cost more, and they're the only way to undo a drive rather than make up for it.
The cheapest offset of all is the drive you don't make, and the next is a more efficient car. Offsetting is for what's left.
Offsetting in the US
The EPA puts a typical passenger car at about 4.6 metric tons of CO₂ a year: around 400 grams a mile over 11,500 miles. Americans drive further than most, so a year of driving costs more to offset here than in Europe.
Voluntary carbon credits are listed on registries such as Verra, Gold Standard, the American Carbon Registry and the Climate Action Reserve, which track each credit until it's retired so it can't be sold twice.
Questions
How much does it cost to offset a car in the US?
An average car in the US driven 11,500 miles a year puts out about 10,196 lb of CO₂. Offsetting that costs $37.00 a year with renewable energy credits, $208 with forest in the US, and $2,775 with direct air capture.
What is a carbon offset?
A carbon offset pays for a tonne of CO₂ to be kept out of the air, or taken out of it, somewhere else, to make up for a tonne you put in. Each one is a credit, checked by a registry and retired in your name once it's used, so it can't be sold twice.
Do carbon offsets work?
The good ones do what they say, but they're not all equal. Credits that avoid emissions (renewable energy, cookstoves) are cheap, and how much they really change is debated. Removals (forest, biochar, direct air capture) take carbon out of the air and are easier to trust, and the longer they lock it away, the more they cost. Driving less and in a more efficient car comes first; offsetting covers what's left.
Carbon offset or carbon credit: what's the difference?
A carbon credit is the certificate for a tonne of CO₂ avoided or removed. It becomes your offset when it's retired against your own emissions.
How many trees would offset my car?
A grown tree takes in roughly 22 kg of CO₂ a year, so a year of driving an average car needs about 75 to 210 trees growing for that year, depending on the car and how far it goes. Young trees take in far less, which is why forest credits are sold by the tonne, not the tree.
How much does it cost to offset a tonne of CO₂?
From $8 a tonne for renewable energy credits to $600 a tonne for direct air capture. Native forest, the middle of the range, is $45 a tonne.
How much CO₂ does a car put out in a year in the US?
About 4.6 metric tons for a typical passenger car, by the EPA's reckoning: roughly 400 grams a mile over about 11,500 miles. A pickup or large SUV puts out more.
More on your car's CO₂
Know what every drive puts out
Roadtrip works out the fuel cost and the CO₂ of any drive in your exact car, so you can pick the cheaper, cleaner way to go.
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