How do climate projects work?
Climate projects reduce, avoid, or remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This is achieved, for example, through the development of renewable energies, forest protection or reforestation, social impact projects such as clean cooking stoves or drinking water, or other technologies. The effect is verifiable and is calculated in tonnes of CO2. Therefore by supporting climate projects, you contribute to financing global climate action.
Climate projects are certified according to international standards such as the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Gold Standard and are regularly audited by independent third parties. This makes climate projects an important instrument in the fight against climate change.
Climate projects often facilitate a transition towards more sustainable technologies, thereby reducing emissions in the long term. They also promote sustainable development in the project regions, improve the local living conditions, or help conserve biodiversity. A globally recognised benchmark for measuring such positive effects is the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each of the climate projects in the ClimatePartner portfolio contributes to several SDGs.
Financing global climate action
Climate action must be a worldwide effort. Often, the very countries that are most affected by the impacts of climate change have only a small carbon footprint themselves. At the same time, it is precisely these countries that lack the financial resources, expertise, and infrastructure to make the necessary investments in sustainable development. Closing this financing gap is another responsibility of wealthier countries. Companies can and must participate by supporting verified climate projects.
In addition to reducing emissions within your company, financing climate projects is an important part of a corporate climate action strategy. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) also calls for companies to make "investments outside their science-based targets to help mitigate climate change elsewhere. There is an urgent need to scale up near-term climate finance; however, these investments should be in addition to deep emission cuts, not instead of them" (see point 4 in the SBTi Net Zero Standard).
Climate projects from ClimatePartner
ClimatePartner, together with its project-focused subsidiary ClimatePartner Impact, develops and supports climate projects worldwide. As our client, you therefore have access to a portfolio of more than 400 carefully selected and high-quality climate projects.
In over 15 years of working with project developers, we have implemented increasingly stringent due diligence processes. We only include projects in our portfolio that are verified according to international standards, validated by independent third parties, and meet additional quality requirements. ClimatePartner's registry management is audited and certified annually by TÜV Austria, a leading environmental verifier.
Transparency is crucial
To enable companies to make their investment in climate action transparent, ClimatePartner provides individual climate-ID pages. All the important information about the climate projects financed is accessible from this page, including the project technology, region and standard, validators and verifiers, CO2 volume, and the SDGs to which the project contributes. The climate-ID page also makes visible a company’s achievements across all 5 steps of the climate action strategy. Companies can thereby transparently present their entire commitment – an important prerequisite for their credibility.
Contact us to kick off your climate action today!