Hank Plante
Reporting

(CBS 5) SAN FRANCISCO Some of California's top politicians say they are directly contributing to the fight against global warming even though they're flying on private jets and driving gas-guzzling cars.

Carbon credits are all the rage right now as politicians, celebrities and ordinary folks donate money to trading companies -- who, in turn, invest that money in renewable resources like wind farms.

Many of the carbon credit companies are located in the Bay Area, including TerraPass, which buys carbon credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange then helps fund renewable-energy sources.

Former Vice President Al Gore purchased more than $14,000 in carbon credits to equal his Tennessee home's power consumption last year.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez sent in a check for $136 after a recent trip to Davos, Switzerland.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are among those who are buying so-called carbon credits to offset their high fuel habits.

Schwarzenegger, who lives in a Los Angeles mansion travels mostly in a motorcade and always flies on a private jet.

A one-hour private flight from Los Angeles to Sacramento put out 8,700 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air, about 20 times more carbon dioxide than someone flying on a commercial aircraft on the same trip.

At a San Francisco press conference Thursday, CBS 5 asked Schwarzenegger about his energy use.

"We purchase carbon credits," Schwarzenegger said. "But I think the best way of offsetting (carbon dioxide) really is to develop the technology that we can fly planes that emit only half of the greenhouse gas emissions like cars."