CNaught – Walking the Walk to a Carbon Neutral Home

Building a carbon neutral home takes a whole team to ensure the project is durable, energy efficient, comfortable, and bona fide. When Thrive Home Builders took on the task of building the Panorama Idea Home in Breckenridge Colo., they brought CNaught onto the team to provide a science-backed portfolio of high-integrity carbon credits.

The wildfires of 2021 that choked the Denver skyline with smoke became the impetus for change. “Thrive is about building homes for the health of our customers, but they really can’t be healthy without thinking of the health of our planet,” said Gene Myers, founder and chief sustainability officer for Thrive. “So, for us, as home builders, the next step had to be carbon reduction.”  

With that in mind, Myers resolved that by the end of 2024, Thrive would be carbon neutral, from their corporate operations to every home they build. The Panorama Idea Home proved to be the ideal project to test that resolve.

As an all-electric, certified Zero Energy Ready Home by the U.S. Department of Energy with a rooftop solar array, the 6,600-square-foot custom retreat was well-positioned to achieve carbon neutrality. However, even after thoughtful design, specification, and energy efficient appliances and mechanical system installation, there were still meaningful emissions related to the construction and operation of the Panorama Idea Home. This is where the partnership with CNaught proved ideal.

Striking the Carbon Balance
The assets that CNaught brought to the Panorama Idea Home worked perfectly for the goals of the project. Aware yet slightly suspicious of carbon credit companies that over-promise and under deliver, Myers and his team spent hours researching options.

“My hunch is that there is a lot of greenwashing going on with carbon offsets,” said Myers. “We have to look at something that is a legitimate and verified offset.” 

The criteria for selecting a carbon credit partner included pricing on a flat price-per-tonne, options to easily purchase credits on a per home basis, and overall transparency on where and how the offsets would be utilized.

Going down this list of requirements, Myers found that CNaught offers a science-backed portfolio built off the Oxford Principles for Net Zero aligned carbon off-setting. These principles suggest that buyers can drive impact in the near-to-medium term through support for high-integrity avoided emissions offsets while at the same time supporting an increasing amount of carbon removal over time as we get closer to global net zero. CNaught’s offering is designed to do exactly that – supporting highly-rated avoided emissions projects around the world like those that capture methane emissions at landfills while also investing in both nature-based and engineered carbon removal.

To further ensure that the carbon offsets will withstand the winds of social and political change, CNaught established a portfolio of non-correlated assets that mitigate risk, akin to financial risk management. If there is a challenge with a single project, the remaining portfolio will be unaffected, ensuring that carbon credits purchased will continue to perform over the duration.

Leveraging best practices from the Oxford Principles as well as the World Economic Forum, the Integrity Council on the Voluntary Carbon Market, and independent third-party credit ratings agencies, CNaught’s portfolios are made up of four categories of project types: emission reduction, conservation, short-lived removal, and long-lived removal. Purchasing carbon credits can be easily done through their website on a pay-as-you-go pricing model, allowing builders to only purchase credits as needed for projects. This ease of purchase was ideal for the Panorama Idea Home as a single project, but also works well for production builders looking to offset the carbon associated with any project. 

To improve transparency, CNaught provides a suite of impact tools that allow for reporting on carbon reduction, avoidance, and storage. These tools not only ensure that offsets are actively working to mitigate and capture carbon, but also can be used to showcase climate responsible investments to potential customers.

Designed to meet the needs of the home builder but applicable to transportation, retail, and other business sectors, CNaught checked all the boxes for Myers and the Panorama Idea Home.

“There’s no way that we are going to hit our Paris Agreement goals without doing our part,” says Myers. “I think our only obligation as a builder is to do what we can.” 

For more information on carbon credits you can trust, contact CNaught at www.cnaught.com.