A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases that are produced from a.) direct emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, and b.) indirect CO₂ emissions from the lifecycle of products used.

Carbon dioxide is a harmful greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming and is produced from everyday activities such as driving a car or turning on a light. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average U.S. family-of-four household produces over 35,000 pounds of CO₂ annually.

Carbon offsetting is a way of compensating for the harmful emissions produced and released into the atmosphere with an equivalent carbon dioxide savings. The process of carbon offsetting involves two steps: a calculation of an individual’s, household’s or business’s carbon footprint followed by purchasing carbon offset credits from emission reduction projects that are preventing or removing an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere.

Carbon offsets acquired through the GreenPay^SM Rewards program are applied to a growing number of diverse sanctioned offset programs ranging from agricultural, landfill and coal mine methane projects to renewable energy and forestry projects to agricultural and rangeland soil carbon management projects.