Eliminating or reducing emissions from your activities is the goal, but getting to “net zero” is not always possible. Offsets are helpful when you cannot otherwise reduce the emissions generated by your activities. Notably, COREworks projects generate net-positive offsets, meaning the projects bring additional ecological or societal benefits, in addition to balancing out your carbon debt. There are many ways to live lightly. Opportunities await in how we travel, eat, shop, manage our homes and more. A quick online search will offer a bounty of tips both large and small. Reduce what you can, and offset the rest with COREworks.

A carbon offset is a unit of measurement that quantifies the value of an emission-reducing activity. People purchase offsets to balance out (or neutralize) harmful environmental impact one place with positive impact somewhere else. Carbon offsets are quantified as metric tons of carbon dioxide (MTCO2).

Think of a carbon footprint as the total impact of a person or corporation's actions on ecological well-being. The greater the footprint, the greater the impact. All of us generate a carbon footprint just by living, but the goal is to live more lightly. You can find free carbon footprint calculators online. We recommend this one from the Nature Conservancy.

COREworks is an initiative of Boxerwood Education Association, an established non-profit serving Rockbridge County, Virginia. COREworks promotes environmental learning and action by operating a community-based carbon offset marketplace. The marketplace generates revenue for accelerating local climate action through its offset exchange. The exchange helps people swap out negative impact for good by inviting them to secure offsets generated by up-and-running COREworks projects. 100% of these proceeds as well as general donations in turn help launch the next COREworks emission-reducing project, thus perpetuating those cycles of good.

COREworks manages a home-grown carbon exchange marketplace to promote ecological well-being in our local community and beyond. Specifically, COREworks: solicits, vets, funds, and lists eligible Earth care projects on its website; determines the per ton value of greenhouse gas emission offsets generated by these projects; plans and manages related outreach, marketing, and publicity; and reports project outcomes to relevant stakeholders including Boxerwood's Board of Directors and an external accounting firm.

Yes! Anyone wanting to offset an environmental impact incurred anywhere may shop the COREworks marketplace.

COREworks is a program of Boxerwood Education Association, an established non-profit organization in Lexington, Virginia, whose mission is “to educate and inspire people of all ages to become environmentally responsible stewards of the Earth.”

There are plenty of international exchanges out there (here's one we like), but after extensive research we have found only a handful community-based initiatives similar to COREworks. Our favorite is in Alaska. We hope the success of COREworks will inspire other communities to adopt the model for their own needs, thus amplifying our impact.

The marketplace is COREworks’s instrument for local climate education and action. Our endeavor draws inspiration from large-scale voluntary carbon exchange marketplaces. These commercial sites enable customers to balance out harmful impact from a specific carbon-emitting activity by purchasing emission-reducing offsets generated elsewhere. Our marketplace lists local earth care projects actively generating carbon offsets in our own community. Those wanting to offset their impact in a locally-beneficial way simply visit the COREworks marketplace, select a project, and secure an offset (or more than one!), through our secure transactions page. The marketplace also accepts general donations. Notably, 100% of these proceeds launch the next climate-friendly project, perpetuating community benefits.

Not exactly, but you can make an equivalent offset donation which achieves the same goal. COREworks is part of a non-profit organization so the donation model works better for us and for you: all COREworks donations are tax-deductible.

Both kinds of marketplaces help people offset their personal impact, but when it comes to valuation, there are two main differences. COREworks functions more like a farmer’s market than a large grocery chain. Our offset values reflect the actual costs for implementing each COREworks project where we live. Our cost includes additional community-enhancing elements that ensure each project is not just “net-neutral” but “net-positive.” By design, every COREworks project must do more than simply right a wrong: it must leave the world a better place.

The main difference is intent. Those securing an offset, valued at $120, do so to balance personal impact from a carbon-emitting activity (like a flight) with net-positive COREworks activity. Offset e-receipts acknowledge and value this exchange in metric ton equivalences. Direct impact donors give any amount of their choosing to accelerate the launch of climate-friendly projects without regard to personal carbon footprints. Their donations are not tied to a specific project. Direct impact e-receipts simply acknowledge a contribution total. Either way, 100% of all contributions support the COREworks Fund, the engine for launching the next COREworks project. Donations may be one-time, or recurring.

Yes. COREworks is a program of Boxerwood Education Association, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. Your e-receipt will include the amount of your donation and Boxerwood’s federal EIN number.

The COREworks team decides which projects to include in the marketplace, based on internal and external review of submitted applications. All proposed projects must meet the COREworks Standards of Integrity.

COREworks vets, verifies, and validates projects from the beginning to end, using tools and methods common in the voluntary carbon exchange industry. COREworks publishes these records on our website. Here's an example application, which covers emission and offset verification, from our first Solar Offset Project.

COREworks accepts applications from established nonprofit conservation organizations, including but not limited to submissions from Boxerwood Education Association.

All projects are located in the Rockbridge County area and we anticipate those operating on public land or in community spaces to be available for viewing. Visit Boxerwood to see the first COREworks-verified solar array and balance your trip to visit with one of the offsets generated by this project.

COREworks selects projects that create bountiful community benefits. All projects must also include an ecological component that we can quantify as reducing, preventing, or sequestering carbon, measured in metric ton carbon dioxide offset emissions (MTCO2). With these criteria in mind, COREworks anticipates four project pathways: energy conservation/solar; tree-planting; food waste diversion; and regenerative agriculture. We have funded and verified up-and-running projects in the first three pathways and anticipate launching the regenerative agriculture pathway soon.