A Greener Real Estate Transaction

Macdonald Realty, a Canadian real estate brokerage, offers its clients the opportunity to go green by choosing to donate a portion of an agent's commission fee to programs that are intended to offset greenhouse gas emissions.

"The Macdonald Realty real estate agent will offer the home buyer or seller the option to make his transaction carbon neutral," according to a company announcement.

To participate, the client can fill out a short online form and the agent will bear the offset cost. This cost will vary by agent depending on the number of transactions and associated emissions.

The company, which has 800 agents and staff members in British Columbia and Alberta, is attempting to become "carbon neutral" by tracking its overall carbon footprint and supporting projects to remove an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases from the environment. Real estate companies can contribute auto pollution, for example, and can use volumes of paper documents.

Offset projects can include the planting of trees or investment in renewable energy and energy conservation.

"Because global warming is a worldwide problem, it does not matter whether the carbon offsetting project reduces emissions in Canada or Africa, as it will have the same positive outcome on the environment," the company announced.

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