British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a boost to “carbon offsets” with his January 2007 announcement that he would offset the environmental impact of his personal air travel.

There are a growing number of organizations and businesses–in the U.S. and abroad–that provide carbon offsets designed to mitigate the environmental impact of travel, some of which are listed below. In addition, there are some links to additional information about these programs.

The vagabond found a number of these links thanks to [1] ClimateBiz, which bills itself as “the business resource for carbon management,” and Jeff Greenwald, whose article “[2] How to Fly the Guilt-Free Skies,” appeared in the Winter 2005 issue of the National Resouces Defense Council’s OnEarth Magazine. Greenwald is a travel writer and executive director of [3] The Ethical Traveler.

U.S.-BASED PROGRAMS

[4] MyClimate, sponsored by Sustainable Travel International, air and auto travel

[5] Drive Neutral, sponsored by the Presidio School of Management, auto travel

[6] CarbonFund.org, a Washington DC-area nonprofit

[7] Oregon Climate Trust, initially funded by Nike and Delta airlines to offset the emissions generated by Nike employee travel

[8] Better World Club, a North American for profit

EUROPEAN-BASED PROGRAMS

[9] CarbonNeutral, a for-profit company based in England

[10] Climate Care and [11] ClimateSure, a for-profit company based in English

[12] Atmosfair, Germany-based company

TRAVEL COMPANIES
The following tour companies work with Sustainable Travel International to offset their carbon emissions.

[13] Natural Habitat Adventures, based in Boulder, Colorado, to provide carbon offsets for all of its tours tour-related emissions.[14] Escape Adventures, which runs mountain biking tours in the U.S. southwest, claims to be the “world’s first carbon-neutral outfitter.”

[15] Adventure Smith Explorations, based in Tahoe City, California, offers “carbon free cruising” on its small ship tours.

TO LEARN MORE, CHECK OUT . . .[16] Climate Change Calculator, American Forests

[17] Climate Change and Tourism, which researches the environmental impacts of the travel industry