About
Green Earth Africa

Climate change is on the forefront of the world headlines, people’s minds, business’s balance sheets, future planning, livelihoods and habitat. Most people accept that the climate is changing and that we are the main cause of this change. Some people do think differently and will argue that it is a natural cycle which the earth is going through; however, nobody can be certain. What we can be certain is that change is happening and that in all probability we are contributing to this change. And it should be our responsibility to try and help prevent or reverse this change, and we have to do this together and whilst doing this we have to help those who are affected the most from this change. It will be hard to solve the climate crisis, but if we chose to solve it, then there is no doubt that we can and we will succeed.

Effects of Climate change
Effects of climate change

Through its environmental indicative, Green Earth Africa (GEA) is involved in a credible, accountable, traceable and comprehensive standard system for environmental offsets. Whilst the politicians and governments (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC) engage in costly meetings and gatherings to thrash out post 2012 Kyoto protocols, we at GEA have taken the intuitive to begin credible offset solutions for companies and individuals, some of which have not yet become subnets of topical conversation in parliaments and governments, NGO’s board rooms but they will no doubt become issues in the near future.GEA plan to be a step ahead and not waste time on this important issue of looking after our planet and we hope that the leading companies and individuals with the same foresight as us take the steps to offset their footprints by engaging and working alongside GEA. We are discussing the methodological and technical issues with specialist, environmentalists, research, communities, governments, and hands on management and key environmental offset players to ensure that the guidance and offset trade we provide is relevant to your needs. GEA are working closely with the most important existing standards systems that effectively address some of the key components of a standard trading system. Whilst GEA recognizes the value of these systems, GEA have found that no single system covers all the necessary aspects of a comprehensive standard system for environmental offsets, which include carbon , wildlife and water offsets, all of which are becoming more and more important in this rapidly changing climate and destruction of the environment. 

GEA is in the process of registering for REDD approval for forest carbon trading through the voluntary market, but as this is a long winded and time-consuming process, often taking years for approval, GEA has designed an accountable, traceable system aimed specifically at private corporations, companies, large, medium and small and individuals and offers offsets in all environmental damaging scenarios with the aim to channel most of the proceeds back into the protection of the environment and community development, poverty alleviation and job creation. Living and working in the areas of concern, involving the communities and the governments, great progress has been made and rather than wait for new agreements to be thrashed out in places like Copenhagen, GEA has taken the initiative and lead in moving forward and putting in place voluntary offset schemes for companies and individuals who are moving forward at a pace which allows them to contribute towards this global problem without having to wait for the beaurocracy of international meetings (IPCC).

Cap & Trade System

How a Cap and Trade System Works

How Cap and trade system works

Cap and trade lets the market find the cheapest way to cut emissions.

In a cap and trade system, the law sets the maximum allowable emissions- The Cap – for a set of polluting industries, such as power plants. For every ton of CO2 that a polluter reduces under the cap, it is awarded one allowance. Allowances can be bought, sold, traded, or banked for the future, and any facility that has successfully cut emissions below the mandated level can then auction their allowances to those over polluting. This built in cash incentive to reduce emissions encourages compliance and innovation, and maximizes the efficiency with which the market reduces pollution.

Governments decide how much carbon, industry, services, personal emissions, vehicles etc are allowed to emit. If you produce less carbon then the legislation, then you are in credit and can sell these credits. If you do not reduce your emissions then you have a penalty and have to pay per ton for your surplus emissions or you buy credits from a source of carbon reduction, commonly known as a sink, or you can buy the credits from a source which has reduced their emissions below the legislation and are therefore in credit.

Personal Emissions

Personal Emissions

GEA foresee the governments of many countries imposing restrictions on personal emissions. These will be measured by the amount of electricity you consume, the amount of gas or oil you use to heat your homes, by the size of your car etc. This is easy to measure purely by your end of the month bills. Introducing a Cap on each household will encourage you to insulate your homes, turn out lights, disconnect your TV’s when not in use, turn off your water heaters when away from home, buy smaller cars, lift clubs, walking etc. GEA are in a position to allow personal offsets to be bought for personal use, gifts, employee incentives, as an investment on our futures exchange (buy offsets at today’s price, and trade them at a later date when the price has risen).

Carbon Markets

Carbon Markets

Individuals, companies or governments can pay others to absorb or avoid the release of a tonne of CO2 in order to compensate for their own emissions. Purchasing such carbon offsets, or carbon credits is becoming an increasingly common means for individuals, organizations, and companies to reduce their carbon footprint.

The carbon offset markets is split between compliance markets and voluntary markets. Compliance offset markets are regulated by mandatory carbon emissions regimes such as the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Voluntary offset markets, not associated with these mandatory regimes off companies and individuals the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets on a voluntary basis as a means to compensate for their Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. While the voluntary market for carbon offsets is still small in comparison to the compliance market, it is growing at a rapid rate. The growth in the voluntary market is mostly fuelled by what is commonly referred to as a carbon neutrality, I.E, organizations or individuals offsetting their emissions (from homes, travel, production processes etc) through the financing of projects that result in emissions elsewhere. There does however remain controversy surrounding the voluntary markets due to accountability a Dn traceability and the use of the proceeds. GEA has put in place exclusive agreements with governments and private concessions and forests to ensure that there are no double trading of the same areas, credits etc. GEA is also using the latest GPS, Satellite technology to ensure accountability and traceability, community involvement and employment. More than seventy percent of all funds go back into the protection of the carbon sinks, communities, governments etc for development and also reforestation projects.
Within the voluntary carbon markets, there is significant interest in forest carbon projects- i.e. offset projects that aim to reduce GHG emissions through forest-related measures such as afforestation, reforestation, avoided deforestation, or sustainable forest management.There is as yet little experience of forest carbon offsets within the compliance markets since reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is not included in the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, although there is now consensus that the second phase of the protocol must include mechanisms that recognize and provide incentives for voluntary and REDD projects.

Wildlife offsets are not well known but have been around for several years and have been legislated in Northern America, generally known as species banking or mitigation banking. The wildlife traded is generally between state to state and is used as an offset for development projects. Whilst Green Earth Africa see this trade as a good initiative, it does not generally protect the wildlife but rather stabilizes the population of the species. Where there is destruction of the habitat of a certain species is destroyed resulting in the loss of that species in that particular area,a credit for that species is bought in an area where the land is being returned to its original state, i.e Wetlands. Wildilfe in Africa is generally only protected through various governments and national parks and  donations from charities. However the amount of finance available is negligible and more often than not the very people who are paid to protect the game are the main force behind poaching and wildlife trafficking.Wildlife trafficking is estimated to be a twenty billion dollar a year illegitimate  business and is second to none in profitability in the illicit trade, this is excluding the trade in wildlife which is killed and traded .Many companies have a huge impact on the wildlife in their respective areas of operations, oil and gas companies being at the forefront of the impact. To use an example of the environmental effect on wildlife from oil exploration, one only has to have a look at the Canadian Tar Sands and the damage caused not only to the wildlife but also the environment. Oil spills are always a real threat and danger, every time there is a spill we see endless pictures of the effects on the wildlife. The guilty companies are often fined millions of dollars but this money is never channeled back into protecting the wildlife which has been destroyed, the money seems to disappear into government coffers and it is back to business as usual. Green Earth Africa, through the wildlife it looks after, are now in a position to offer wildlife offsets as an insurance package to corporations and individuals, thus if a company does have a wildlife impact from their operations, through buying their offsets through Green Earth Africa, they know any impact they may have will be more than offset by the protection of the wildlife from poachers and wildlife traffickers by the systems put in place by Green Earth Africa.

Green Earth Africa, through its concessions and governmental agreements are now able to offer wildlife offset to corporations and individuals, and the income from the offsets will be channeled back into the protection of the wildlife by creating employments in the form of anti poaching patrols, custom and border patrols, airports and ports monitoring , community development, and general protection of the wildlife in the concessions and national parks currently under contract or control of Green Earth Africa.

Community development and involvement is key to ensuring that all the objectives of Green earth Africa’s business principles, accountability and traceability are met. As most of the rain-forests, savanna bush land and wildlife is the only source of income for many rural African communities and  it is these communities which  are the most familiar with the forests and wildlife, Green Earth Africa, through its friendships, and business relationships with local chiefs and communities , forty percent of all proceeds from the trade in environmental offsets are channeled back into the communities  through development , education, medical, poverty elevation  and employment creation  thus ensuring that Green earth Africa has full support and involvement of the community. After all , the forests and wildlife belong to these communities and rather than make a living from illegal logging, poaching and wildlife trafficking, Green earth Africa are teaching the communities that the greatest financial benefit from their resource is by protecting them, not by destroying them.

FOR MORE DETAIL ON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK TO OUR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PAGE.

Loyalty and reward Scheme

Purchase offsets for corporate use, personal use or as a gift and benefit from Green Earth Africa’s reward and loyalty scheme. Each offset carries a number of points which can be accumulated on your loyalty card and then these can be cashed in for various gifts such as framed photos, organic honey or fruits, village crafts and jewelry, or flights and trips to our  various safari camps. Short a few points? Buy more offsets /credits or pay part cash.

FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK TO OUR LOYALTY AND REWARD PAGE