FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHO ADMINISTERS GO ZERO?

Go Zero is administered by The Conservation Fund, the nation's top-rated environmental nonprofit by the American Institute of Philanthropy.

WHERE DOES MY DONATION GO?

Your charitable contribution of approximately $5.00 per tree helps support the Fund's Carbon Sequestration program - an effort to plant native trees to address climate change, protect wildlife habitat and enhance America's public recreation areas. Since 2000, The Conservation Fund has restored 30,000 acres and planted more than 9 million trees through its carbon sequestration program. Over the next 100 years, these new forests will capture an estimated 13.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere.

COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Fund works with communities as well as different sectors of industry, including forest and chemical companies, developers, and ranchers to demonstrate sustainable practices that balance economic and environmental goals.

WHERE ARE MY TREES PLANTED?

The Conservation Fund is working across the country to plant trees and address climate change. This fall, the Go Zero program will reforest areas in National Wildlife Refuges from New Jersey to California -- including Bogue Chitto NWR and Big Branch NWR in Louisiana, Rappahannock NWR in Virginia, Illinois River National Wildlife and Fish Refuges in Illinois, Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in New Jersey, Santee NWR in South Carolina, and San Joaquin River NWR in California.

For the past several years, The Conservation Fund's reforestation efforts have been focused on the Lower Mississippi River Valley -- an area that lost more than 20 million acres of bottomland hardwood forest over the last century. This area will remain a core Conservation Fund focus in the years to come. To date, significant carbon sequestration and reforestation efforts have occurred on public lands at:

• Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge, LA
• Obion Creek Wildlife Management Area, KY
• Old Sabine Bottom Wildlife Management Area, TX
• Sloughs Wildlife Management Area, KY
• Red River National Wildlife Refuge, LA

WHEN WILL MY TREES BE PLANTED?

Go Zero trees are combined with existing and future carbon sequestration projects. Typically, the Fund completes three to four carbon sequestration projects each year. At the completion of each project, the Fund will contact our Go Zero donors (via email) and notify them that their trees have been planted.

WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU MEASURING?

Your estimated annual carbon dioxide footprint is the sum of the carbon dioxide that is produced by your home energy use, auto transportation, and air travel.

AM I AVERAGE?

The average American is responsible for emitting approximately 20 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.

HOW MUCH CARBON DIOXIDE DOES ONE TREE ABSORB?

Sequestration rates are based on scientific research conducted by third party experts Winrock International, Environmental Synergy, Inc. and the US Fish and Wildlife Service and vary depending on species of tree and geographic location. Go Zero calculations assume average sequestration rates per acre of land reforested and always include appropriate tree survival assumptions.

For example, in the lower Mississippi River Valley, where most of the Fund's sequestration efforts have been focused, the Fund and its partners plant approximately 300 trees per acre, which will sequester approximately 400 tons of carbon dioxide over 100 years. Therefore, on a per planted tree basis, each tree absorbs an average of approximately 1.33 tons of carbon dioxide over 100 years.

IS REFORESTATION AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE?

Yes. It should be included as part of a broader climate change strategy. Estimates are that as much as 50% of the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the last 50 years may be due to the effects of land use change. Thus, restoring forestland represents a natural way to reverse these effects and combat climate change. As trees grow they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in living plant tissue. Reforestation of once-forested, but currently unproductive areas such as marginal agricultural lands is a recognized and proven way to sequester carbon.

According to a recent study by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, climate change policies should include storage of carbon dioxide in U.S. forests. "Climate change is the major global environmental challenge of our time and in order to deal with it in the most cost-effective way, we need to consider the full range of solutions -- and that includes carbon storage in forests," said Eileen Claussen, President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "If we ignore the potential for forest-based sequestration, any projection of the costs and feasibility of addressing climate change is going to be overly pessimistic and wrong."

In fact, the EPA estimates that growing a Douglas fir forest for a century or so is 25% to 50% more efficient at reducing carbon dioxide buildup than using an equivalent amount of land to grow biofuels. In other words, if you grow, say, switch grass hay to produce electricity you will allow roughly 25% to 50% more carbon dioxide to remain in the atmosphere than if you had planted a fir forest on the same amount of acreage and used coal to make electricity.

DO I EARN 'CARBON CREDITS' AS A RESULT OF MY DONATION?

The Go Zero program was created to calculate and offset the annual carbon dioxide emitted by a specific activity, business, organization or individual. Therefore, all earned 'carbon credits' are retired and cannot be banked for future offset purposes or sold.

Who are The Conservation Fund's Go Zero land management and tree planting partners? The Conservation Fund works primarily with state and federal public land agencies, including the US Fish and Wildlife Service. These organizations are the long-term land managers and stewards of the Go Zero trees and employ some of the world's top biologists and environmental professionals. These public agency partners also provide third party validation for the Go Zero program.

CAN A CORPORATION OR ORGANIZATION GO ZERO?

Yes. To find out how Go Zero can be customized to meet the specific needs of your company or organization, contact Jena Thompson at (703) 525-6300 or email jthompson@conservationfund.org. Go Zero's corporate programs can service:

• Employees
• Customers
• Business units
• Specific brands
• Selected products

WHAT COMPANIES SUPPORT THE CONSERVATION FUND'S CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM GO ZERO?

Some of the world's top organizations and most respected brands support the Fund's Climate Change Program / Go Zero initiative. A partial list includes the Walt Disney Company, The North Face, Home Depot, Timberland, ESPN X Games, Toyota, Universal Studios, New Line Cinema, Creative Artists Agency, United Talent Agency, Gaiam Inc., Yale School of Forestry, William McDonough and Partners, and Justin Timberlake Productions.

WHAT STANDARDS AND PRINCIPLES DOES THE GO ZERO PROGRAM ADHERE TO?

The Conservation Fund has been a leader in carbon sequestration through reforestation for the past six years, adhering to the most rigorous environmental and scientific principles. The Conservation Fund uses calculation methods and standards set forth by The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative (GHG Protocol), which aims to harmonize accounting and reporting standards worldwide to ensure that different trading platforms and other climate related initiatives adopt consistent approaches to GHG accounting.

IN TERMS OF ITS REFORESTATION ACTIVITIES, ALL GO ZERO PROJECTS ADHERE TO THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES:

• Native Species: All Go Zero forests are comprised of native trees, designed to restore fully functioning natural systems
• Permanence: The Conservation Fund works with the nation's leading public natural resource agencies to ensure that trees are planted in permanently protected areas that have long-term management plans to ensure accuracy and certainty of carbon sequestration
• Additionality: All Go Zero projects result in additional carbon dioxide capture compared to that which would otherwise have occurred without native tree planting.
• Environmental Benefits: Projects provide additional environmental benefits including restored wildlife habitat, improved air and water quality and enhanced recreation areas.