Methodology

Footprinting

Cooler uses peer-reviewed methodologies and exacting scientific standards to produce the most accurate and conservative calculations possible through our calculator. Our emissions assessment tools were developed by founder Dr. Michel Gelobter in collaboration with leading global, US, and European environmental organizations to ensure that, together, we’re never short-changing our planet.

Cooler’s calculators provide real-time footprints for all consumer goods and services up to point-of-sale using an EIO-LCA hybrid approach, and follow the most environmentally conservative variant of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, accounting for Scopes 1, 2, and 3. The calculations start with as little as the name of your product or service and its price. From there, Cooler uses economic and engineering data to calculate the footprint based on about 2,000 underlying categories, including your location, how you ship, and other key variables.

Neutralizing Emissions

Cooler’s approach to eliminating emissions directly lowers industrial CO2 pollution, stopping pollution at its source while simultaneously supporting economic, social, and environmental development.

Collective Action

We pool your emissions neutralizing fees with those of other customers to buy pollution permits in regulated cap and trade markets, thereby reducing the supply of permits for polluters, forcing them to reduce their emissions. In other words, we certifiably eliminate greenhouse gasses by preventing industrial polluters like power plants from buying required permits. Then, in a virtuous cycle, the permit fees are invested in conservation and clean energy projects that have generated thousands of jobs1. So when you neutralize with Cooler, you’re not just stopping new carbon emissions, you’re investing in a clean, green future.

Environmental Justice

By curbing CO2 pollution and financing clean energy projects, we are also supporting fenceline and frontline communities that bear the burden of climate change earliest and most acutely.

Carbon Offsets vs Neutralizing

This method of eliminating your purchase’s footprint is NOT a carbon offset. Offsets are typically used by polluters to continue business as usual, and are often of both quantitatively and qualitatively questionable.

As we grow, we’ll expand our neutralization portfolio and continue to vet our neutralization options with carbon market experts and our allies in the fight against global warming.