TerraPass

For the Adidas football, see Adidas Terrapass.

TerraPass

Industry	Social enterprise
Successor	JustGreen
Area served	United States
Products	Carbon offsetting
Website	www.terrapass.com

TerraPass is a social enterprise that provides carbon offsetting products. TerraPass use proceeds from member purchases to fund greenhouse gas reduction projects.

Carbon portfolio

TerraPass's projects is divided into four project types, all based in the United States: ^[1]

• Wind energy – TerraPass purchased Green-e-certified wind Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from wind farms and calculates the carbon reduction from these RECs based on the EPA eGRID methodology. ^[2]
• Farm methane digesters (or "Farm Power") – TerraPass funds emissions reductions from digesters that collect the methane from animal manure on dairy farms and burn it, which often generates renewable energy.
• Landfill methane flaring – TerraPass funds reductions from landfill flaring of methane, collected from decomposing garbage.
• Clean energy – TerraPass funds wind energy after calculating the "environmental gains" with the “carbon profile” of the electricity grid.

History

Acquisition by Just Energy Group

In 2014, TerraPass sold its retail carbon offset business to JustGreen, a subsidiary of the Just Energy Group Inc., a Canada-based competitive retailer of natural gas and electricity. JustGreen assumed the TerraPass brand. The remaining TerraPass Energy & Wholesale group renamed itself Origin Climate. ^[3]

Partnerships

TerraPass has entered into several business partnerships:

• In August 2006, TerraPass began selling airplane emission offsets through Expedia. ^[4] Expedia offsets are intended to offset the specific flight(s) booked through the travel site.
• In January 2007, TerraPass partnered with uShip.com to provide a "TerraPass Certified Green Provider Program" to shipping companies wishing to do so. ^{[5] [6] [7]}
• In June 2007, Flexcar partnered with TerraPass to provide a premium "Green Membership". In addition to regular Flexcar privileges. ^{[8] [9]}

Hidden Fees Lawsuit

In July 2025, TerraPass entered into a consent order with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation to settle a DFPI lawsuit over TerraPass' failure to disclose to consumers that it was pocketing 40% of carbon offset credit purchases for its own operating costs. TerraPass was ordered to refund $68,500 in undisclosed fees to nine California businesses and 621 California consumers. ^[10]

Verification

TerraPass tries to reduce greenhouse gas against the Verified Carbon Standard. All of the RECs TerraPass purchases are Green-e certified through the Center for Resource Solutions.^{[ citation needed ]} The primary standards they use are Verified Carbon Standard and the Climate Action Reserve. ^[11]

TerraPass is audited according to guidelines established by the Center for Resource Solutions. The focus of the audit is to verify that TerraPass fulfills its carbon purchase obligations on behalf of its customers; to enforce certain carbon portfolio quality standards; and to review TerraPass marketing language and disclosure policies. ^[12]

Adam Stein, co-founder and VP of Marketing, was an occasional contributor to environmental news site Grist Magazine. ^[13]

References

1. "TerraPass project portfolio". Archived from the original on 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
2. "EPA eGRID database". Archived from the original on 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
3. "TerraPass Sells Retail Business, Adopts New Name" (Press release). San Francisco: TerraPass. 3BL Media. 2014-05-21. Archived from the original on 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
4. "Expedia.com Offers Travelers a Greener Way to Fly" Archived 2008-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
5. "uShip and TerraPass Partner on Carbon Offset Program for Shipping" Archived 19 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
6. 'Green Shipping on uShip' Archived 1 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine
7. 'uShip' Archived 12 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
8. ""Flexcar and TerraPass Take the Carbon Out of Car-Sharing"". Archived from the original on 2007-09-08. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
9. "Flexcar teams up with TerraPass to reduce carbon emissions" Archived 2007-10-10 at the Wayback Machine
10. "Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation v. Restitution Brands LLC dba TerraPass" (PDF). California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 July 2025. Retrieved 25 Aug 2025.
11. "Carbon Offset Projects | Terrapass Project Standards". Archived from the original on 2015-06-22. Retrieved 2017-04-30.
12. "center for resource solutions造句_用"center for resource solutions"造句". www.ichacha.net. Archived from the original on 2023-04-22. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
13. "Adam Stein, Author at Grist". Archived from the original on 2012-09-14. Retrieved 2012-09-15.

External links

• TerraPass