Since 2003, Pearl Jam has calculated the metric tons of carbon dioxide output from the band’s world tours. Those calculations are based on band and crew flights and hotel stays, truck mileage, bus mileage, shipping weight (miles/mode of transport), and the number of fans attending each show.
Based on this calculation, the band allocates a portion of tour profits to invest in environmental projects that serve to offset or mitigate carbon dioxide that was released into the atmosphere on tours.
In continuing their ongoing commitment to acknowledge and address the band’s carbon footprint, Pearl Jam will be paying $200 per ton for carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation from the Gigaton tour, a ten-fold increase from prior years. This pricing allows the band to pursue a multi-layered strategy of offsets and investments that combined, will allow for a more comprehensive mitigation plan.
Pearl Jam Offsets 2018 US and European Tour Carbon Emissions
Pearl Jam will voluntarily offset an estimated 3,500 tons of carbon dioxide produced by their 2018 US and European tours. The band is investing in a carbon offset project in Alaska managed by ClimeCo, The American Land Conservancy, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
This offset project is the first of its kind in the region. It supports conservation work on Afognak Island which is home to a coastal temperate rainforest with old-growth trees that are between 180 and 250 years old, plus a regrowth of new trees from the past 30 years. Together, these new and old forests create the potential for absorbing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The project has also gone through the rigorous assessment process of the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), the world’s leading voluntary carbon accounting framework, managed by the non-profit organization Verra.
The project helps protect Afgonak Island from logging and other potentially destructive practices on the land in order to preserve its ecological value and nature. It also preserves the habitat for many important animal species, including Roosevelt elk, the Kodiak brown bear, red fox, river otter, weasels, five species of Pacific salmon, and the bald eagle.
Pearl Jam Voluntarily Offsets 2018 Brazilian Tour Carbon Emissions
Pearl Jam voluntarily mitigated an estimated 2,500* tons of carbon dioxide emissions produced from their upcomingBrazilian tour dates in partnership with Conservation International. The band purchased a ‘carbon offset’ supporting Amazonia Live, the world’s largest tropical reforestation project which aims to restore 73 million trees in the Brazilian Amazon.
The funds from this offset will be invested in an agroforest project at the Uatumã Reserve, resulting in 20,600 planted trees spanning 8 hectares. This investment will also directly benefit 27 families, employing 30 people as seed collectors, nursery workers, planters and agricultural technicians.
Pearl Jammitigated an estimated 2,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions produced from their 2018 Brazilian shows in partnership with Conservation International. The band purchased a ‘carbon offset’ supporting Amazonia Live, the world’s largest tropical reforestation project which aims to restore 73 million trees in the Brazilian Amazon.
The funds from this offset will be invested in an agroforest project at the Uatumã Reserve, resulting in 20,600 planted trees spanning 8 hectares. This investment will also directly benefit 27 families, employing 30 people as seed collectors, nursery workers, planters and agricultural technicians.
Conservation International + Carbonfund.org Foundation
Pearl Jam voluntarily mitigated the carbon dioxide produced on their 2016 U.S. tour and their 2015 Latin American tour dates with a $54,000 USD investment in two certified REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation ‘plus’) projects in partnership with: Conservation International’s Alto Mayo Project in Peru, and Carbonfund.org Foundation’s Valparaiso Amazon Rainforest Project in Brazil.
In 2012, Pearl Jam Touring contributed $29,712 to Forterra in support of a new carbon mitigation program, C3 (Carbon Capturing Companies) which mitigates the band's carbon emissions in 2011 and for the next five legs of tour.*
Pearl Jam's donation will go toward improving native forest conditions at Discovery Park by planting enough Pacific Northwest native conifer trees to sequester 20,000 tonnes of CO2 over 100 years.
In 2011, Stone personally purchased $8,000 worth of native plants on 4.6 acres as an additional offset as part of Washington State’s Arlington Arbor Day celebration. Stone and volunteers worked to plant more than 500 native shrubs and trees in the city's new Country Charm Recreation and Conservation Area, the former Graafstra dairy farm.
* Measurement based on the following estimate: Pearl Jam is seeking to offset 20,000 tons of carbon for every 7 legs of tour, given that our carbon output per tour leg is approximately 2000 metric tons per tour.
Pearl Jam Works With UPS to Decrease Carbon Footprint
Shows like Pearl Jam’s 20th Anniversary Destination Weekend (PJ20) require big semi trucks for equipment, numerous airplane flights, and large amounts of power. Trouble is, this creates a sizable carbon output. In addition to the band’s self-imposed carbon mitigation efforts on tours, Pearl Jam also partners with UPS to minimize their shipping impact in other aspects of their business, including Ten Club shipping.
Pearl Jam partnered with Cascade Land Conservancy (CLC), a national leader in urban forest restoration, to plant approximately 33 acres of native trees and plants in communities around Puget Sound. Pearl Jam’s donation of $210,000 funded the urban forestry project, which mitigated more than 7,000 metric tons of carbon.
Conservation International La Laguna De Cube Project
Pearl Jam donated over $78,000 from the band's 2007 and 2008 tours to Conservation International's La Laguna de Cube project in the Esmeraldas Province in Ecuador. Restoration took place in the Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve, a 300,000-acre reserve established by Ecuador’s Ministry of the Environment and contains the Laguna de Cube, which was declared a “wetland of international importance.”
Conservation International’s restoration efforts add another layer of protection to this critical remnant of Ecuador’s coastal rainforest that is home to a number of unique plant and animal species, including the jaguar, the long wattled umbrella bird, the giant anteater and the threatened mantled Howler monkey. As this regenerated forest grows, it will absorb more than 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) over the next 30 years, provide habitat protection for endangered plant and animal species and direct support for local communities.
Through the Carbon Portfolio Strategy, Pearl Jam donated a total of $100,000 to nine organizations doing innovative work around climate change, renewable energy, and the environment.
The band's investment to Conservation International from this effort was used to help restore degraded tropical forests in Ecuador through replanting of native species of plants and trees.
Stone Gossard spearheaded an effort on the 2004 Vote for Change tour called the "Vote for Change Renewable Energy Project." This initiative raised over $77,000 to fund a variety of small-scale renewable energy projects in several of the states through which the tour traveled. Dave Matthews, Bonnie Raitt, Pearl Jam and Stone Gossard individually donated money to this effort, which was overseen by Tom Starrs of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation.
Conservation International Partnership For "Carbon Neutral" Tour
Pearl Jam joined forces with Conservation International to help make the band's world tour "carbon neutral." Pearl Jam's contribution of $85,000 offset 5,700 metric tons of CO2 by creating and managing a new protected area in the rainforest of Makira, Madagascar.