How it Works
Make A Contribution
Make a donation to the Triangle Community Carbon Fund (TCCF) to offset all or a part of your carbon emissions or simply contribute to the fund. You may donate to a specific project or to the general fund, from which the TCCF will use its discretion to donate to a project or to support the work we are doing to link capital to projects that need desperately to be jump started, go to scale, or be replicated. The recommended donation is what you can afford.
Step 1 - Calculate Carbon Footprint (optional)
Calclate your personal or business carbon emissions using either:
EPA's Personal Carbon Footprint Calculator
UC Berkeley’s Cool Climate Small Business Carbon Footprint Calculator
Our Own Calculator Coming Soon
Step 2 - Select A Project
Review the projects listed on the Projects page to determine where you would like to donate.
Step 3 - Determine Donation Amount
If you have calculated the carbon footprint of an activity you wish to offset e.g., a flight), multiple the emissions amount by a factor that reflects the cost of emissions per ton. Using a cost of emissions per ton of at least $25 is recommended; however, calculations of costs per ton vary depending upon perspective:
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2018 Assessment placed a target price of $5,000 per ton by 2028 to achieve 2.7°F (1.5°C) rate of decarbonization.
- Most carbon sequestration technologies do not work as a business model unless the price is closer to $100 per ton.
- The cost of a metric ton of carbon to society is over $50, but as of 2019 in California, in the United States, the cost is considered to be only $!5 per ton, which is only a one dollar increase from 2018
- In Europe, the cost is determined to be $26 per ton.
- A price on carbon of $15 per ton is the starting point in the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act introducted to Congress in 2019, increasing by $10 per ton each year thereafter.
You may also simply make a donation in any amount.
Step 4 - Submit your donation
Click on the link below to submit your donation online. You may also mail in a check to the address listed. Funds are held in a secure bank account dedicated to supporting TCCF projects. You will receive a certificate in recognition for your contribution and a tax deduction receipt. The option exists to have your donation made public, either online or through other media.
Submit a Project for funding
The Forest Foundation, Inc. works with staff and partners to carefully select and curate projects for support for maximum transparency, distilling project information down to a set of criteria that allows donors to see the value of their contribution. The Triangle Community Carbon Fund works as a “dating service,” fiduciary agent and facilitator. Projects must provide data on energy efficiency, carbon sequestration and/or high value displacement or mitigation, as well as a matrix of ancillary benefits, such as: promotion of diverse and distributed renewable energy, green job creation, waste diversion, environmental justice, green economic development and/or other air pollution reductions.
Follow a simple, three-step process to submit a project for consideration:
Step 1 - Complete and submit the Initial Form
This form provides basic information regarding the project for initial evaluation, including a brief description and assessment of benefits..
Step 2 - TCCF Follow Up Consultation
The TCCF will follow up with your organization to gather additional, more detailed information about your project. The TCCF offers consultative support to assist in determining some of the information, particularly quatitative data, related to specific evaulative criteria. Each criterion value needs to be supported as best as possible with documented evidence.
Step 3 - Complete and Submit the Full Application Form
Click the link below to fill out and submit the Full Application Form. If you have already gathered the necessary detailed information required of the full form, you may skip the first two steps and move directly to this application.
Note that there is a 10% fee up to $100 that goes to support consultative services and other project-related and website adminstrative costs, collected at the time a project is funded.
Negawatts or Energy Efficiency
Reduced fossil fuel, energy/fuel consumption
Status
Funding received to date? Length of project? History of project?
Displaced Carbon
Reduced fossil fuel consumption: gallons consumed/displaced, miles driven or kWs used
Carbon Sequestration
Composting, food waste biodigester, or wood waste; removal from waste stream and production or biochar and permaculture farming techniques
Local Resiliency
Promotion of decentralized distributed energy production, by using local sources, 100 mile radius
Systems or Lifecycle Approach
Use of lifecycle assessment to map supply chain and impacts; use of systems approach, network, or partners
Social and Environmental Justice
Project helps create green jobs that promote diversity, equality, and support of people of color, and those living at risk and/or living in low-income communities