Carbon Offset Matching Program | Jumpstreet Educational Tours

Offset your carbon footprint and create life-changing moments for you and for the generations to come.

Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada have partnered with Carbonzero to provide our participants with carbon neutral travel experiences.

No matter where your tour takes you, rest assured that your climate impact is mitigated using quality carbon offsets that support projects focused on the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve carbon neutrality on your travel program, Jumpstreet and WorldStrides' Choose Earth matching program enables you to offset the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated by your travel, and we will cover half the cost.

participants have made their trip carbon neutral!

tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) offset to date.

SUSTAINABILITY STARTS WITH EDUCATION

At Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada, we Choose Earth—it's our way of building environmental and social responsibility into the ethos and outcomes of our business practices and educational programs. We believe that these programs should be adventurous and focus on learning about our most challenging societal problems, all circling back to our dedication to a sustainable future. As an educational provider, we hold a special platform and opportunity to allow participants to engage in sustainable thinking while minimizing our company’s carbon footprint on the road and in the office.

About the Program

HOW CARBON OFFSETTING WORKS

A carbon offset is a credit for real and verified reductions of greenhouse gas emissions developed to compensate or “offset” an equivalent greenhouse gas emission from another source that cannot be easily eliminated. Its purpose is to assist in the mitigation of global warming by compensating or “offsetting” an emissions-producing activity by investing into offsets that contribute to new emissions avoidance and reduction technologies.

Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada will submit annual offset purchases to our partner, Carbonzero, and receive a digital carbon offset certificate in return. Each purchase is serialized and certificate numbers can be tracked in the Carbonzero Registry to confirm the offset has been retired.

CARBON OFFSET PRICING

Final participant pricing below reflects the amounts after removing our company match. Pricing is based on an offset cost of CA$ 18.50 per tCO2e for the San Antonio El Sitio Project.

Motorcoach programs: CA$ 0.50 | US$ 0.40
North America flight programs: CA$ 10 | US$ 8.50
International flight programs*: CA$ 19 | US$ 16.00

*Hawaii and Alaska flight tours fall under the international flight program pricing.

Please note that carbon emissions from your hotel, meals, and program activities are not included in this offset purchase. If you would like to offset these aspects of your tour, read our FAQ to learn more. Pricing includes a 13% HST charged by Carbonzero on all offset purchases.

WHO IS CARBONZERO?

Carbonzero is a Canadian-based supplier of greenhouse gas measurement and carbon offsetting solutions. For over 15 years, their expert team has assisted organizations, governments, individuals, and NGOs in measuring, managing, and mitigating their climate impact while supporting projects that protect nature and give back to local communities. Headquartered in Toronto, Carbonzero is the official carbon offset provider for WestJet Airlines and a number of other Canadian brands.

Learn more about Carbonzero's mission and current and completed projects.

THE MALAWI SAFE WATER SUPPLY PROJECT

Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada has selected the Malawi Safe Water Supply Project as the destination for our travellers’ carbon offsets. This project targets communities in Malawi that rely on boiling water as their primary source of purification, a practice that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation due to the need to collect and burn large amounts of firewood. This project contributes to a reduction of 245,000 tonnes of carbon annually through the repair and creation of clean water boreholes.

Click here to read about the impact of our last project: The San Antonio El Sitio Wind Power Project.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

The Malawi Safe Water Supply Project addresses four of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being

The Malawi Safe Water Supply Project creates a tangible and outsized improvement in access to potable water, reducing the rates of communicable diseases contracted through unsafe drinking water. Elongated exposure to indoor open fires increases the risk of developing diseases such as pneumonia, heart disease, strokes, and lung cancer due to inhaling smoke. Therefore, by creating boreholes the long-term health of those previously affected by the necessity to boil water over open fires will improve.

Goal 5: Gender Equality

By providing clean drinking water and reducing the time and resources spent on water collection and purification, the Malawi Safe Water Supply Project enables all members of the community to equally devote time and energy to business, education, and agricultural endeavors. Women and children are the most disproportionately impacted by the need to tend fires and collect firewood for boiling water. The creation of boreholes allows women more freedom to pursue other endeavors both around and outside the home, as well as afford children more time to attend school.

choose-earth-sdgs-goal-6

Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

In 2022, 2.2 billion people around the world lacked access to safe drinking water and hand-washing facilities. By repairing and creating reliable sources of potable water, the Malawi Safe Water Supply Project provides a higher standard of sanitation, which increases community hygiene. This also allows families to redirect funds previously allocated for doctors’ visits and medicine for other household needs.

Goal 13: Climate Action

Global warming is causing irreparable damage to our planet. The Malawi Safe Water Supply Project mitigates this impact by lowering the amount of timber required by a household, reducing amounts of deforestation and carbon emissions through the burning of firewood.

To learn more about the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, click here.

Frequently Asked Questions

A carbon footprint is a measure of the greenhouse gas impact that an individual, business, or event has on the climate. Carbon footprints are measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, or tCO2e.

A carbon offset is a credit for real and verified reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, designed to assist in the mitigation of climate change by “offsetting” an emissions-producing activity through investment in projects that remove or reduce carbon emissions. Many projects have added benefits, such as conserving energy and biodiversity, improving efficiency, and promoting changes in behaviour.

To put it simply, investing in a carbon offsetting program lessens your carbon footprint while minimizing your impact on global climate change.

Flights and automobiles produce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning fuel. When released into the atmosphere, CO2 emissions cause air pollution and contribute to the greenhouse effect, leading to global warming and climate change. Carbon offsets provide individuals and businesses the ability to take responsibility for their own climate impact and negate the emissions that cannot otherwise be easily reduced.

Note: Offsets are not a replacement for direct action in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but they are beneficial when used as a complementary measure.

Although travel is incredibly important in understanding and learning about the world around us, the global tourism industry is responsible for nearly eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the David Suzuki Foundation. By offsetting the travel component of your trip (flight or bus), you’re reducing the largest portion of emissions created from your tour while helping to maintain a clean, green planet for all.

One carbon offset represents the reduction of one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). The emissions from your flight or bus travel have been calculated using select criteria, including:

Average kilometres travelled between destinations
Uplift factor of 8% to account for any indirect routing, stacking at airports, and delays
High altitude impacts (increases CO2 emissions by a factor of 1.9%)
Motorcoach travel takes into account average bus capacity of 44 travellers; flight travel is calculated on a per seat basis
Emission factor of your mode of transport, which is the measure of pollutants released from each activity (these numbers vary for each mode of transportation and are measured in grams of co2e per kilometre)

Our tours start and terminate at different locations and take different routes and stop-overs, which means calculating the exact cost to offset each and every traveller’s flight at the time of program registration would be virtually impossible.

To ensure we’ve accounted for all emissions produced from Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada travel programs, we’ve worked alongside Carbonzero to create a fixed rate calculation based on best estimates for each of our standard programs: international flight programs, North America flight programs, and motorcoach programs. Within each of these program categories, we’ve based the pricing on our standard tours by evaluating each and every flight scheduled to depart in our 2020 season, as well as all trips forecast for our 2023 travel season.

Based on these flights, we’ve calculated the average flight distance for North America flights at 6,500 km roundtrip and our international flights at 12,250 km roundtrip, while our motorcoach trips are based on an average of 2,000 km roundtrip. With these best estimates in mind, we’ve calculated the carbon emissions associated in tCO2e and the equivalent cost to offset those emissions.

To do so, we took the average distance for each tour type and multiplied it by the emission factor for that activity. The emission factor is inclusive of both high altitude impacts and uplift factors. The emission factors used are:

International flights: 151.02 grams of CO2e per kilometre
North America flights: 147.87 grams of CO2e per kilometre
Motorcoach: 23.7 grams of CO2e per kilometer / per passenger

We divided this number by one million to convert it into tonnes to determine the tCO2e. The El Sitio project is priced at CAD$ 18.50 per carbon offset, which is equal to 1 tonne of carbon. The tCO2e produced is multiplied by CAD$ 18.50 to determine the final offset costs. We've taken that number and halved it, so you only pay half the cost in addition to Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada, who will cover the remainder.

As not every flight will be equal, we understand that some trips may be overestimated and some underestimated; however, we believe based on our thorough calculations and forecasting that all emissions will be accounted for by the year's end.

Your physical trip—the flight or bus portion of your tour—will be! Through the purchase of high-quality carbon offsets from Carbonzero, you will have mitigated the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the travel portion of your trip, deeming your flight or bus travel carbon neutral.

Please note that carbon emissions from your hotel, meals, and program activities are not included in this offset purchase. To find out more about how you can calculate and offset the emissions from other activities on your tour (or your own personal travel), read below.

If you’re travelling by motorcoach on your upcoming Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada tour, congrats—you’re already enroled in the program! If you’re travelling by plane (North America or international), your Program Leader will make the decision to participate in the program on your group’s behalf. Continue reading to learn how to enrol if you would like to but your group has chosen otherwise.

Great—we fully support your decision! If you would like to enrol in the program individually, please contact our customer service team for assistance. If you and several of your fellow travellers would like to participate, please speak with your Program Leader and they can help register your group. Whether you choose to enrol individually or as part of a group, Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada will match your contribution.

To contact our customer service team, please call us at 1-800-663-4956.

When you purchase a carbon offset with Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada, we match your contribution and purchase the offsets on your behalf through our partnership with Carbonzero. Offsets are purchased throughout the year, and our certificates of purchase will be available on this page as we receive them.

Proceeds are directed to the Malawi Safe Water Supply Project and are retired accordingly on the UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Registry. Your purchase of carbon offsets helps to fund the development and operation of emissions reduction projects which would not have otherwise been possible.

Read more on the Malawi Safe Water Supply Project your money will help support.

In partnership with Carbonzero, Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada have selected the Malawi Safe Water Supply Project because this intervention is expected to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with global efforts towards climate change mitigation and environmental preservation. This project also greatly increases the quality of life for members of local communities across Malawi. We feel strongly that this project meets our sustainability and global citizenship goals as an organization, as well as the goals expressed by our partner educators.

The Malawi Safe Water Supply Project meets the Gold Standard as a program that certifiably reduces greenhouse gas emissions. This project also meets the standards of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) protocols developed by the United Nations. This UN-run carbon offset scheme recognizes high-quality offset programs that help to support the global transition to a clean energy economy. These high-quality programs must meet several important metrics, including:

Permanence – this project must demonstrate a continued benefit of offset without risk of reversal.
Leakage – the effort to reduce emissions within this project must be proven to not cause an increase in emissions elsewhere.
Sustainability – this project must demonstrate no negative environmental or social impacts.
Additionality – this project must demonstrate a further reduction in emissions besides reductions that would otherwise occur.

In addition, bodies that certify projects in developing nations have other requirements for gender-aware design and focus on the livelihood of local communities. The impact of the Malawi Safe Water Supply Project extends beyond climate mitigation to tackle pressing social impacts, adding an even greater value to the carbon offsets.

Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada are committed to supporting sustainable travel, and we believe it is only by working together as one that we can truly make an impact. We feel it is important for both the company and the consumer to take equal responsibility for carbon emissions, which is why we’re matching each and every contribution made by our participants.

Carbonzero was selected as our offset partner because they are a Canadian company that supports our goal of sustainable travel. A top performer in the David Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute report Purchasing Carbon Offsets: A Guide for Canadian Consumers, Businesses, and Organizations, Carbonzero has led the way in setting industry standards for verified emissions reduction offsets in Canada. All Carbonzero offset projects adhere to internationally recognized standards and programs, including the International Organization for Standardization (ISO); Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); Verified Carbon Standard (VCS/VERRA); Gold Standard; and Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Standards (CBBA); with a strong focus on energy efficiency, renewable energy, nature-based projects, and waste management. Carbonzero is the official offset partner of WestJet Airlines and is engaged in energy conservation projects with Patriotes and Pointe-de-L'île School Boards in Quebec, in addition to other projects throughout Canada.

With extreme weather events caused by climate change occuring more frequently and with greater intensity, in addition to the rise of eco-anxiety following the pandemic, it’s clear that we need to prioritize action over words. The statistics speak for themselves: the global tourism industry is responsible for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions—and we at Jumpstreet and WorldStrides Canada recognize that we play an active part in these emissions.

Every day, we work with teachers and students whose communities have been impacted by climate change. We see, understand, and agree that we need to do our part to counter the negative effects of global warming, such as the recent flooding in British Columbia and the Alberta wildfires. Education is at the heart of everything we do, and it’s imperative for us to learn and educate others about climate change and its negative effects. We’re committed to showing our travellers different ways of mitigating these effects by offering solutions to better adapt for the future and long-term sustainability.

Our main focus with Choose Earth is to offer carbon neutrality, but there are many other actions you can take to make a positive impact and lean into sustainable tourism. These include slow tourism (choosing one important trip instead of four smaller trips), ecotourism (focusing on the outdoors and conservation), zero waste (choosing suppliers who implement zero waste policies), implicating local communities, de-marketizing to better manage tourist influx (choosing a destination off-the-beaten-path), raising awareness, engaging visitors, and educating others on how to partake in responsible tourism.

Though we’ve made efforts over the last decade to increase sustainability in our Canadian offices, this is the first time we’re launching a Canada-wide initiative and incorporating a matching scheme to offset our travellers’ emissions. We’re extremely proud to join in on this worldwide effort and to continue offering life-changing moments for generations to come.

Yes! Carbonzero offers a personal carbon calculator that measures greenhouse gas emissions associated with activities such as the operation of a vehicle, home heating and electricity, and air travel. Once you've determined your carbon footprint, you have the option to purchase carbon offsets to mitigate all or a portion of your calculated emissions.