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What It Really Means For Companies To Be Carbon Neutral

Container ships sit idle in the the San Francisco Bay just outside of the Port of Oakland in San Francisco, California.
Container ships sit idle in the the San Francisco Bay just outside of the Port of Oakland in San Francisco, California.

These days when shopping online, you may have noticed a new buzzword. 

More and more companies are boasting about being “carbon neutral.” These businesses promise to offset the carbon emissions they create. 

From The Goods by Vox:

“This new wave of carbon-specific lingo is different, and it’s not just brands setting these kinds of carbon reduction targets — cities, states, and, in some cases, countries are setting them, too. Companies or localities can’t just say they’re carbon-neutral; they should, theoretically, be able to document and show that they’ve, for instance, switched from fossil fuel energy to renewable energy.” 

Butdoes it actually work that way? And how can we be sure a company really is doing right by the environment?

Copyright 2021 WAMU 88.5

Amanda Williams