Corporate Project-Based Climate Protection Solutions
An effective corporate climate strategy should always begin with the reduction of all avoidable emissions. Companies can then go beyond this by compensating for or neutralizing the remaining unavoidable emissions, making a quick and effective impact on climate protection.
First Climate offers a broad range of solutions for offsetting your carbon emissions with the help of high-quality certified climate protection projects.
Compensation and Neutralization
In many areas of the economy, offsetting carbon emissions has long been an instrument of voluntary carbon protection. Carbon offset projects are based around climate protection projects that are founded on the avoidance or reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. A carbon removal project, however, is based on the physical removal and long-term storage of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Carbon removal projects can be based on either technological or natural processes. Those based on natural processes are known as Natural Climate Solutions (NCS).
Energy Efficiency
An example of energy efficiency projects at household level is the spread of energy-efficient cooking stoves. Cooking over open fires is still widespread in many parts of the world. This is very inefficient and therefore associated with a multitude of problems: On the one hand, deforestation is advancing due to the high demand for firewood. On the other hand, there is a lot of harmful smoke that leads to serious eye, respiratory and lung diseases. Energy-efficient stoves achieve fuel savings of 30 to 50 percent and thus help to relieve the environment and improve people's living conditions.
Carbon Compensation and Net Zero
Compensating for unavoidable emissions plays an important role in the implementation of a net-zero strategy. On the way to reaching the net-zero goal, companies can choose to compensate with the help of emission reduction projects or carbon removal projects. Once the net-zero target is met, residual emissions should be compensated for with carbon removals.
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Quality criteria: What makes a First Climate project
All climate protection projects are based on what is known as a baseline scenario, which describes the situation in the project region without the project in place. The baseline is carefully and conservatively calculated.
For nature-based projects in particular, careful risk management is indispensable. All risks are checked and evaluated by auditors on-site and are measured against the project standard’s requirements. The auditing process requires projects to also create a suitable risk-management plan that addresses all identified risks. In addition to this, a risk buffer is set to protect any possible loss of biomass.
Clear documentation and redemption through public registries ensure against double counting.
Additionality is a key quality criterion for all offered climate protection projects. First Climate only offers emission reduction certificates from projects that have been certified by high-quality, internationally recognized standards.
All our projects are checked and verified against the highest quality standards by reliable, independent auditors.
High-quality projects reliably rule out the possibility of carbon leakage through checks that are carried out as part of the certification process. Leakage refers to shifting of emissions outside the limits of the project itself, which would compromise the actual impact on climate protection.
All our projects have to prove the permanence of the carbon reductions or removals as part of the certification process.
All our projects actually deliver additional local environmental and social benefits alongside the actual climate impact. For example, co-benefits can include the creation of secure job opportunities or improved healthcare in the project region. This means that our projects also contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.