If you’ve ever wondered about your impact on global warming while shopping for a t-shirt, bath towel, camera or printer, wonder no more. Cooler says it not only has the answer, but can help you offset whatever climate damage your shopping spree might have inflicted.

Cooler’s solution is actually two: one aimed at retailers and manufacturers that want to reduce their carbon footprint and better appeal to customers looking for eco-friendly businesses, and one aimed directly at consumers who want to shop online in a way that doesn’t increase greenhouse gas emissions.

The business option, called Cooler Complete, provides stores and factories with access to a carbon calculator that Cooler says is the first of its kind. The calculator sums up the full emissions impact of any good or service from the point it is created to the point it is sold. Cooler Complete also helps businesses create a roadmap for reducing emissions and buying offsets that support renewable energy or pollution prevention projects. And it provides a customized marketing plan to help client businesses spread the word about their efforts.

"Fifty percent of U.S. consumers would rather do business with companies that are working to reduce global warming," says Michel Gelobter, the founder and executive vice president of Cooler. "Nearly 40 percent of the average American’s global warming impact comes from everyday consumer products and services."

For the ordinary shopper who’s concerned about that impact, Cooler has another new offering: ClimateCooler.com. The consumer-targeted website lets you buy more than 8 million products from more than 400 businesses — from 123inkjets.com to Zones.com — and automatically offsets the global warming impact of each purchase.

It works like this: you click "buy" (paying the same price anyone else would pay going directly to the retailer) and ClimateCooler.com calculates the impact of your purchase. It then returns a portion of the price you paid back to the store, which uses the money to offset your climate impact.

The ClimateCooler.com people offer this example: Buy a cell phone at a "real" store, and you’ve just contribued almost 390 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Buy the same phone online, and your carbon emissions drop to about 370 pounds, because online shopping is more efficient. Buy the same phone through ClimateCooler.com, and your emissions are zero, because Cooler’s calculated offsets will compensate for your impact entirely.

It sounds almost too good to be true, but Cooler’s calculator has already won the approval of green groups like Environmental Defense, the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, as well as that of The Gold Standard (an offset company).

Better yet: it’s here — dare I say it? — just in time for the holidays! (Sorry … they’re coming fast!)

Image credit: Mike Edwards, Wikimedia Commons