Calculation basis

Wilderness International is composed of three non-profit organizations, one in Peru, Canada and Germany. Together we are aspiring to protect ecologically highly valuable and acutely endangered wilderness areas. At the moment, we are working specifically to preserve ancient temperate rainforests on the West Coast of Canada as well as tropical rainforests in eastern Peru. We purchase the areas and legally secure them with an entry in the land registry. These purchases are refinanced with donations and enable the durable protection of these wilderness areas.

Added to that, we actively promote environmental education by working together with thousands of students every year, whom we also implement local environmental projects with, such as planting trees or making school yards greener.

Protection of tropical rainforest is highly effective in Peru: With a small effort, we can make a big positive impact for the planet. Besides: In many areas of our Earth, like in Europe, we can not find ancient forests anymore.

• Tropical rainforests are world champions when it comes to storing carbon dioxide. Their trees, up to 2,000 years old, play a crucial role in the fight against climate change. Nowhere else on Earth do trees store that much CO₂ - 60 kg CO₂ in Peru's tropical rainforests.
• Deforestation is a big part of annual carbon emissions worldwide - up to 12% of emissions come from forest loss. 
• The forests of the Amazon basin are the largest contiguous rainforests on Earth, making their own weather: in fact, the plants of the Amazon basin release 20 billion tons of water into the atmosphere every day, creating the largest river of freshwater on Earth! This unique system affects the entire world climate and once again highlights the importance of protecting these forests. The only thing that maintains this water cycle is the vast extent of the contiguous rainforests.
• The forests in the region Madre de Dios in Peru are known for their abundance of biodiversity. That means: By protecting the forest we conserve biodiversity.
• Forests are in danger: Referring to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) there was a yearly loss of 10 million ha tropical rainforest, mainly caused by forestry and mining, between 2015 and 2020. Most affected was the Amazon area.  
• The protection of wilderness areas has many positive impacts worldwide such as stable rainfall, clean air and fresh water.

30% of Earth's surface is currently covered by forests providing many essential functions for climate and being part of a complex environment.

• Forests prevent the loss of nutritious soils
• They clear the water in streams and rivers and the atmosphere from particulate matter (pm) such as heavy metals, nitrogen oxides and soot particles from industrial and car exhausts.
• Rainforests do their own rain due to constant evaporation of vegetation and aerosol emissions from trees.
• They are home to a vast amount of wildlife and multifaceted plants.
• Trees capture carbon by photosynthesis, thereby stabilizing the climate - locally and worldwide - and producing vital oxygen. Thus, they are our most important safeguard against weather extremes and climate change.

So indeed rainforests are the "green lungs" of our earth.

Rainforests are in focus by fighting climate change because they have stored more carbon in their biomass, soils and moores than we can find in the entire atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. All this stored carbon stocks returns in form of CO₂ into the atmosphere when forests get harvested. Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gasses (ghg) that significantly influences the earth’s climate; the more ghg, the warmer the climate. Additionally it gets warmer locally due to the lack of tree vegetation as well as the diversity of animals and plants is lost. When ecosystems such as forests and moores are destroyed they release an amount of carbon that is not recaptable in a human's lifespan. 

Due to that facts forests are the most important lifeguard by addressing anthropocentric climate change. But 13 million ha forests are getting lost every year; an area that corresponds to the size of greece.

Therefore, Wilderness International thinks that we have to say ‘thank you nature’ and protect all the still existing, intact, high-carbon ecosystems.

The carbon footprint is part of the ecological footprint that is caused by every person, institution or company. It indicates how many greenhouse gasses (ghg) are released to the atmosphere due to our activities.

Over the past centuries, we have caused so many emissions and destroyed so much intact nature that our climate is changing. These emissions can be put into numbers by calculating it with so-called emissionfactors.

But not only when we really fly on a plane or buy a new cell phone ghg are emitted. That is why we include the emissions of the entire life cycle of a product or activity in the carbon footprint. This also includes emissions arise when building infrastructure, sourcing and processing raw materials as well as during transport and disposal.

Anthropogenic greenhouse gasses (ghg) are human-induced emissions that influence the Earth’s greenhouse effect. Main greenhouse gasses are carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). These gasses are released into the atmosphere due to different human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, which causes CO₂ emissions, but also wet rice cultivation and factory cattle farming, which cause a vast amount of methane emissions.

The greenhouse effect is essential for Earth’s climate, but humankind has caused ghg emissions since the start of industrialization that affected a climate arising from 1.2 degrees Celsius so far. Due to that it is spoken about anthropogenic ghg emissions and anthropogenic climate change

CO₂ is not the only gas that is emitted in large quantities from our activities and that impacts the climate, others are methane and nitrous oxide, for example. All greenhouse gas emissions are converted into carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e). For example, the impact of 1 kg of methane on the atmosphere is 28 times stronger than that of 1 kg CO₂. That is why for 1 kg of methane, we calculate 28 kg CO₂e. We use CO₂e  to express the impact of all human activity on the atmosphere and to make them more tangible by putting them into numbers.

We determine your carbon footprints which are part of your ecological footprints.

Depending on the carbon calculator you use the ghg emissions of individuals, institutions or single activities are getting calculated.

This does not only take into account carbon dioxide but also emissions of other greenhouse gasses such as methane and nitrous oxide, expressed as CO₂-equivalents. That is why we focus our communication on carbon, albeit other greenhouse gasses are considered.

One more important thing: We try to include emissions of the entire life-cycle of a product or activity, this means all up- and downstream emissions, and not only direct emissions. For example: When you drive by car, not only direct emissions from fuel burning are calculated, but also production and disposal of the car.

Carbon emissions are calculated with so-called carbon emission factors. They indicate how much carbon is emitted on average by using a product or carrying out an activity.In best cases for each product or activity is such a factor scientifically determined and publicly available. 

For example: According to a source from Öko-Institute, a coach causes 0.03679 kg of carbon per passenger kilometer. Based on this, your carbon footprint for the bus journey is calculated using your provided information on the distance traveled.

We have created a database in which we gather, categorize and value emission factors. These factors count currently 3,733 factors and come from scientific, open-access sources. 

Following criteria are used to decide which factors form the base of the calculations:

• Does the source consider all ghg-emissions?
• Were all life cycle steps included?
• Is it a scientific source?
• How recent is the factor?

Upon request, we gladly provide you with the emission factors that we used in our carbon footprint calculator.

The currency of a value is not always the most important quality criteria. That is why we do not always place a priority on recent factors, but more often on the scientific justification of the data. However, we do aim at using mostly recent values and regularly update our database.

Our carbon calculator questions many categories and therefore, your carbon footprint is close to reality.

But, by using a carbon calculator you will never get a 100% result, because it is not a measurement. Emission Factors do not reflect individual activities, but rather averages. For example: On average, every 100km ride by coach causes 3.679kg CO₂. This is used in our calculators. But in case, your bus driver drives fuel efficiently and the bus is well maintained, carbon emissions may be lower.

However, the carbon footprint is so exact that you can use it to assess where you are in a regional and global comparison. And most important: You can identify categories where you can reduce emissions.

The carbon footprint that is calculated usually expresses emissions of one year. In some cases the calculations refer to emissions from specific activities like a travel, expedition, school trip, event, flight, a trip by car or livestream. 

If you would like to always know your current carbon footprint, we recommend using the calculator and compensation project every year. That way, you can also evaluate the progress that you made regarding the reduction of your carbon footprint.

No. Your carbon footprint is part of the “ecological footprint”. This refers to the total biocapacity. In other words, whether we use more water, forest, agricultural land and energy than nature can regenerate.

In comparison, the carbon footprint is easier to calculate and indicates primarily our impact on climate. However, we should not forget that human activities are also significantly cause biodiversity losses, water resources are running short and soils are becoming increasingly infertile.

The use of our carbon footprint calculator is completely for free. Everyone can enter their information and see their result and hints for carbon reductions in the end. 

After calculating your carbon footprint, we offer you the option to voluntarily compensate for the emissions by donating for the tangible protection of the corresponding area of primary rainforest. 

For this: 1€ donation = 60 kg CO₂ = 1m² rainforest.

All of us use natural resources every day. Thereby we leave our traces on Earth: we need energy, we buy technological devices, we travel around and heat our apartments. Whenever we do this, emissions are released into the atmosphere. Due to the footprint calculation you learn about the parts of life or your company that causes most emissions. This enables you to take action in carbon reduction and support of lifestyles that are aligned with nature. 

However, it is currently impossible to drive your emissions to zero, as our energy-, mobility- and agrosystems, among others, are not yet free from fossil fuels. But we can compensate for these emissions by protecting valuable and acutely threatened rainforest, because huge amounts of carbon are stored there. By protecting it, we prevent deforestation from releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

In addition to this, a huge amount of species are protected when their habitats get not destroyed.

After the calculation you get the option to compensate your carbon emissions protecting parts of tropical rainforest in Peru.

1 Euro = Protection of 1 m² rainforest = Storage of 60 kg CO₂.

We see it as urgent and effective to preserve intact natural areas before it is too late. For this reason, Wilderness International protects threatened rainforests in Canada and Peru. Our goal should be to save our climate as a whole and protect life on Earth. We can only do this with the help of the many important functions that forests have for a stable climate, the habitat for biodiversity it provides and the base of life it forms. 

Individuals and companies can offset their carbon emissions with us by donating to the protection of the forest area that stores as much carbon as was emitted. This prevents this amount from being released back into the atmosphere through deforestation.

Using carbon offsets to preserve the climate only make sense if carbon reduction measures are implemented at the same time.

In order to stop global warming, we need to drastically reduce our emissions and the CO₂ in the atmosphere. However, this is not enough if we really want to save the climate and preserve life on Earth as we know it. Even if we completely stopped burning fossil fuels, we could not halt climate change and stop the loss of biodiversity, if we continue to destroy high-carbon ecosystems and important habitats. If we want to maintain life on Earth at the quality that we love, we need to stabilize the climate, create resilience against the consequences of global warming and preserve biodiversity. To achieve this, we need a true rescuer. The good thing about this? We already have it: forests.

Forests store large amounts of carbon in their biomass, soils and forest moors. When high-carbon ecosystems such as forests and moors are destroyed, they release more carbon dioxide than we could ever store again on a time scale relevant for humans. 1/8 to 1/6 of our yearly emissions result from the destruction of forests and the draining of moors, meaning that the loss of forests has a stronger effect on the climate than global transport. And what’s even worse is: For every tree that we cut down, we do not only emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but most of all, we lose our most important ally in the fight against climate change.

Standing forests have many important functions for their environment and the climate. They store large amounts of water and prevent the erosion of fertile soil. Trees produce a majority of the oxygen that we need to survive, so they secure our very basis of life. Added to that, they filter out particulate matter from the air, such as nitrogen oxide, heavy metals and soot particles released by industrial activity and cars. They are home to a huge biodiversity. Thanks to the constant evaporation of their vegetation, they guarantee stable rainfalls and a humid, cool micro-climate.

That is why primary forests are our most important buffer against extreme weather events and climate change. That is why we have chosen the protection of primary forests as our compensation project.

Every tree that we take out of the forest will sooner or later decompose or be burnt, even if it was turned into a sheet of paper and recycled many times or if it was turned into a piece of furniture and inherited over decades. In next to no time, a carbon storage that had built up over millennia in the biomass of the forest will then be released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, where it speeds global warming.

1/8 to 1/6 of our yearly emissions result from the destruction of forests and the draining of moors, meaning that the loss of forests has a stronger effect on the climate than the flight sector. And what’s even worse is: For every tree that we cut down, we do not only emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but most of all, we lose our most important ally in the fight against climate change.

Standing forests have many important functions for their environment and the climate. To read more about this, please see 'How does rainforest protection balance out my CO₂ emissions?'

Added to that, the heat and dryness that follow a clear-cut have in turn negative effects on the remaining forests: Due to the lack of evaporation from vegetation and the loss of the forests water storage function, there are fewer rainfalls and water springs would run dry. The local climate becomes hotter and drier. When a heavy rainfall comes, it will wash out all nutrients of the soil. Biodiversity will vanish irreparably. That is why even reforestation can never recreate the original biodiverse forest.

Therefore, the protection of existing intact forests needs to be our highest priority, even before planting new trees.

The offset contribution depends on the value of your carbon emissions. Our conservation areas store 60 kg CO₂ per m². 1m² do we protect with 1 Euro.

This results in an offset contribution of 16.7 Euro per 1t CO₂.

This contribution includes:

• Direct refinancing of land purchases and durable protection of this specific wilderness area 
• Yearly taxes for the protected area
• Research on biodiversity and carbon sequestration with local partners
• Environmental education

Thus, the compensation with Wilderness International is in comparison very affordable. This is partly because, unlike other compensation projects, the wilderness areas already exist and do not require any maintenance. Another reason is that we keep our own administrative costs to a minimum. Furthermore, we are one of the few providers who, as a project foundation, combine the full responsibility for the data basis and the compensation projects up to the research activities and therefore have no transmission costs. Wilderness International does not act in any way as an intermediary or economically motivated.

The ‘forest booster’ provides you the opportunity to increase your donation for compensation and thus, the area of forest that you protect.

This is because our calculators do not cover all aspects of life or companies that cause carbon emissions. For example: The calculator for individuals does not query your drug use, your further consumption, insurances, bank transfers or energy consumption at work.

Carbon calculator, which would cover all these aspects, would be too long and complicated. To make it easy, we provide the forest booster, so you can also cover additional emissions.

And above all: More old-grown forest to stabilize the climate and protect biodiversity.

No, because there are no adequate standards for carbon calculators. Standards such as GHG-Protocol are a framework for the carbon calculation of specific companies. Carbon calculators in turn are generalized tools that are usable for different individuals, companies and so on.

Wilderness International has the approach of holism. That means: We calculate all relevant aspects and use emission factors that include the total lifecycle of a product or activity.

We develop calculators for several branches and companies. Currently, we offer customized calculators for schools, offices, Impact Hubs, Pharmacies, medical practices and dialysis centers. Our approach is to carefully analyze, in collaboration with representatives of the respective professional groups, where emissions occur.

Ultimately, we also query all data that would be collected in Scope 1,2 and 3 of GHG Protocol.

Our approach allows you to reduce your workload, as we conduct a comprehensive industry analysis to create a calculator that can be used by all companies within that industry. Through feedback received at the end of the calculator, we can continually improve and develop it, ensuring it remains up-to-date and accurate at all times.

Afterward, we provide tips on how you can reduce your carbon footprint.

Additionally, you can compensate for your carbon footprint by protecting old-grown rainforest. You will receive a certificate including the coordinates of the protected forest area. In summary, this means that you can calculate and compensate for your carbon footprint transparently, accurately, and comprehensively.

It is quite complex to include every individual aspect of different companies and organizations. That is why we focussed on the things that most companies and organizations have in common. Therefore, this calculator focuses on energy consumption, office work and mobility. That means, we include Scope 1, 2 and some categories from Scope 3.

But we also develop specialized calculators. So far, we have focused on the medical sector and developed calculators for pharmacies, (dental) medical practices and dialysis centers.

Of course. We are keen to discuss with you a possible partnership. Thanks to our partners, we can protect more wilderness areas safely and sustainably, as well as involve young people in practical ways. For example, conservation partners protect a piece of wilderness with every product or service sold or give their customers a piece of forest. Other partners support our research projects and expeditions, or events such as wilderness runs and tree-planting campaigns through in-kind donations.

Together, we take responsibility! You can find more information on our website.

You will receive our CO₂ certificate including geo-coordinates which can be used on your website and on social media.

You are welcome to include a link to our carbon footprint calculator on your website. If you are interested in a direct cooperation with WI, we can provide you with an iFrame link to embed the calculator on your website. By doing so, you can motivate other individuals or corporations to reflect their impact on climate change and take action to protect life on earth.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at kontakt@wilderness-international.org.

Wilderness International is composed of three non-profit organizations, one in Peru, Canada and Germany. Together we are aspiring to protect ecologically highly valuable and acutely endangered wilderness areas. At the moment, we are working specifically to preserve ancient temperate rainforests on the West Coast of Canada as well as tropical rainforests in eastern Peru. We purchase the areas and legally secure them with an entry in the land registry. These purchases are refinanced with donations and enable the durable protection of these wilderness areas.

Added to that, we actively promote environmental education by working together with thousands of students every year, whom we also implement local environmental projects with, such as planting trees or making school yards greener.

Wilderness International website

Wilderness International is composed of three non-profit organizations, one in Peru, Canada and Germany. Together we are aspiring to protect ecologically highly valuable and acutely endangered wilderness areas. At the moment, we are working specifically to preserve ancient temperate rainforests on the West Coast of Canada as well as tropical rainforests in eastern Peru. We purchase the areas and legally secure them with an entry in the land registry. These purchases are refinanced with donations and enable the durable protection of these wilderness areas.

Added to that, we actively promote environmental education by working together with thousands of students every year, whom we also implement local environmental projects with, such as planting trees or making school yards greener.

Wilderness International website

Wilderness International is composed of three non-profit organizations, one in Peru, Canada and Germany. Together we are aspiring to protect ecologically highly valuable and acutely endangered wilderness areas. At the moment, we are working specifically to preserve ancient temperate rainforests on the West Coast of Canada as well as tropical rainforests in eastern Peru. We purchase the areas and legally secure them with an entry in the land registry. These purchases are refinanced with donations and enable the durable protection of these wilderness areas.

Added to that, we actively promote environmental education by working together with thousands of students every year, whom we also implement local environmental projects with, such as planting trees or making school yards greener.

Wilderness International website