Put an end to extractive activities in forests, such as intensive logging and ranching.
Regenerate forests, protect ecosystems and the wildlife they shelter, and combat climate change.
Help landowners and communities generate income through forest conservation.
Carbon Neutral Planet
Carbon Neutral Planet offers citizens and businesses personalized carbon offsets to reduce their carbon footprint under internationally recognized standards for emissions reductions. By offsetting, donors guarantee that forests with endangered wildlife are protected with regenerative practices.
The Sierra Gorda Alliance has developed and implemented innovative strategies for carbon dioxide sequestration in forests with robust monitoring, reporting, and verification in rural areas of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve. The success of our methodologies has inspired other states in Mexico to replicate the Querétaro Model.
Carbon Neutral Planet stands out from other offset providers because of the personal commitment and relationship that the Sierra Gorda Alliance has to the region and its communities. This grassroots commitment and leadership has given it a unique trajectory in the voluntary carbon market where it became a pioneering force for involving rural citizens, owners of forest plots with valuable biodiversity who would otherwise have been neglected by the Paris Climate Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol.
Forests mitigate climate change
Forests play a vital role in drawing down and storing carbon dioxide. Protecting forest wilderness is thus a global priority for facing the climate change emergency. We seek to protect and restore forests as one of the most effective ways to mitigate climate change.
Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve
The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in Mexico is an ecological wonder. It is the green heart of central Mexico, extending for 383,567 ha and forming part of the Sierra Madre Oriental bio-corridor. It hosts 6 different ecosystems and is home to 2311 registered plant species, 111 mammal species (including the black bear, jaguar, puma, and kinkajou), 343 bird species (including the military macaw and the bumblebee hummingbird), 110 reptile and amphibian species, 27 fish species, and over 800 butterfly species. It shelters biodiversity that is urgently precious in this time of environmental change.
Although the Sierra Gorda is called a biosphere reserve, only 3% of it is federal land. 70% of it is privately owned and 27% is communally owned by approximately 100,000 people living in 638 small communities with high levels of poverty. It is therefore unprotected and threatened by deforestation, cattle grazing, poaching, and forest fires.
We have identified landowners of high priority areas for conservation throughout the Reserve. Your carbon offset donation compensates these landowners for eliminating all destructive activities from their forests, paying them for the ecosystem services that their forests provide all of us. In this way, you not only safeguard biodiversity and mitigate climate change, but also help rural communities generate income.
Wildlife corridor
Forest properties that participate in Carbon Neutral Planet are selected strategically to create wildlife corridors in the Sierra Gorda, connecting areas of habitat for species such as pumas, jaguars, and black bears. Wildlife corridors are essential for species’ survival because they combat habitat fragmentation and facilitate movement of fauna.
Building a Circular Economy for Conservation
Carbon Neutral Planet is part of our region-wide strategy to create a circular economy for conservation in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, which includes:
- educating governmental institutions and influencing public policy to develop an equitable and sustainable economy
- community organizing and activism
- environmental education and Eco-clubs for young environmental leaders
- regulating tourism and developing community-based sustainable tourism. We support 75 community tourism microenterprises (see the Flavor Trail, Eco-Lodge Network, and Network of Artisan Workshops).
- skills development in local communities and training in best sustainable practices across various sectors, including agriculture and tourism
These on-going programs take place in the buffer zones around the properties participating in Carbon Neutral Planet and augment the effect of your emissions reduction. By participating in Carbon Neutral Planet, you form part of this comprehensive ecosystem of sustainable development.
Sustainable Development Goals
Collectively, the Sierra Gorda Alliance´s work addresses 12 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Member organizations of the Sierra Gorda Alliance have received over 40 national and international awards, including:
- 2019- Top 100 Sustainable Destinations, ITB Berlin
- 2018- Innovators of America Award, INNOVAMERICA, INC.
- 2016- National Geographic World Legacy Awards, Conserving the Natural World
- 2014- Wangari Maathai Award, Collaborative Partnership on Forests
- 2013- Champions of the Earth Award, United Nations Environment Programme
- 2012- National Geographic Society- Buffet Award for Leadership in Conservation,
- 2007- BBVA Foundation Award for Biodiversity Conservation
- 2002-Schwab Foundation Award for Outstanding Social Entrepreneurship, World Economic Forum
- 2002- Rolex Award for Enterprise
- 1996- Ashoka Fellow, Martha Ruiz Corzo, director of GESG.
We are proud to be part of the following global networks, working to improve the world:
- New York Declaration on Forests
- UN Environment
- UN Economic and Social Council
- UN Global Compact
- Under2° Coalition
- Savory Institute
- International Union for Conservation of Nature
- United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Network of Civil Society Organizations
- Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
- ASHOKA
