Erik Blachford

Surprise move by automakers vying for green consumers by Mark Frey With the growing demand for newer, cleaner, more fuel efficient vehicles, TerraPass has learned that several leading automobile manufacturers are poised to release the AERE (Automotive Efficiency to Reduce Emissions, pronounced “airy”) carbon offset protocol at the New York International Auto Show. Our sources tell us that the AERE protocol has just undergone a final peer-review process, and its public release should...Read Full Story

Even a year ago, it would have been hard to imagine that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) -- the federal agency responsible for protecting consumers from misleading marketing claims -- would have any reason to wade into the world of climate change and cow power. But last week I went to Washington to represent TerraPass at an FTC hearing on carbon offsets. Media stories in 2007 expressed concern about possible risks to the public from an unregulated voluntary carbon market. Last July, a...Read Full Story

Congrats to the TerraPass team for hiring an extremely accomplished and well-regarded CEO.  Erik Blachford has accepted the role of CEO and will be leading TerraPass to its next level. The existing TerraPass Team has done an amazing job building TerraPass into the leader in the consumer carbon offsets field, and moving from a concept to a thriving business.  They're now ready to roll into the national scene.  Get ready for big things from TerraPass.Read Full Story

Two more tidbits from the ECO:nomics conference: Recently I flagged a surprising comment from the Wall Street Journal: conventional wisdom in the press corps holds all three presidential candidates as equal on climate. I offered a few theories to explain this media blind spot, and upon reading David Roberts' summary of a panel discussion between the candidates' energy advisors, it's pretty clear the prize goes to theory #2: Maybe conventional wisdom holds that the policy differences are...Read Full Story

Joseph Romm has been running an ongoing series of " rules of the road for carbon offsets " on the Grist blog. This is a worthwhile endeavor, and I've been adding my own commentary to flesh out and in some cases provide some balance to the proposed rules. My intent is not to rebut. I mostly agree with all of the guidelines posted so far. And more generally, I strongly support efforts to arm individuals with more information about offset quality. But some of the rules are framed a bit...Read Full Story