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Guide on Voluntary CO2 Offsetting
Our guide on voluntary CO2 offsetting through climate protection projects provides information and assistance on how emissions can be voluntarily offset using climate protection projects. Special attention is paid to their quality standards.
Each person leaves a CO2 footprint. In Germany, this is on average a good 11 tonnes of CO2 per year. Emissions can be avoided or at least reduced by acting in a climate-conscious manner, for example by flying less or eating less meat. For the remaining emissions, the final step is to offset them. This is generally referred to as offsetting. The principle of offsetting is based on the idea that the effect is the same for the climate wherever greenhouse gases are emitted or avoided. Therefore, emissions caused at one point can be offset by making savings at another more distant point. However, the reduction in global emission levels achieved in this way comes very late. It is better to avoid and reduce your own emissions first because what you do not emit does not have to be offset at all.
Source: atmosfair gGmbH
Voluntary CO2 offsetting can offset the remaining climate-damaging emissions caused by one’s own actions – such as by travel, housing, nutrition and other activities of everyday life. This guide summarises what is important in voluntary offsetting and what needs to be predominantly taken into account to ensure a positive effect on the environment, people and the climate. It explains the relationships and technical terms as well as how climate protection projects work. Special attention is paid to quality standards, which are presented in individual fact sheets at the end.
Quality standards ensure compliance with certain criteria. Above all, they ensure that greenhouse gas emissions are offset at the desired level. The standards thus clarify the following exemplary questions:
- In the end, does a new wind turbine really ensure lower overall emissions than without it?
- Are there any negative side-effects after afforestation that undermine the benefits of the project?
- And should not the Indonesian city administration have tackled the hazardous waste anyway?
Our guide addresses all these issues and ultimately provides you with a helpful summary for a properly understood voluntary offsetting of your own greenhouse gas emissions for both private individuals and companies. The guide can also offer providers of offsetting services or ‘climate-neutral’ products the opportunity to adapt their offers to the standards we believe are necessary.
07/09/2020
Analyses of the German market for voluntary CO2 offsetting and national climate protection projects
We regularly commission studies to understand who is offering offsetting services in Germany, who is using them and which emission reduction credits are being used. Contractors investigate the market for us and map what is happening in the voluntary offsetting market in Germany in general.
We now have a timeline from 2010 to 2020 focusing on the behaviour and preferences of providers as well as the demand side of offsetting services and quality aspects of the credits used.
The voluntary domestic market for greenhouse gas offsets offers great potential as an instrument for ambitious climate protection and the transition to a low-carbon economy. At the same time, reduction obligations from the Paris Agreement, the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the national or subnational level set limits to the scope for action.
In 2017, we commissioned a study to analyse the characteristics and preconditions of initiatives in other countries that generated carbon credits from domestic projects for voluntary offsetting. The aim of this study was, firstly, to investigate the challenges and options for domestic climate protection projects in the voluntary offset market, secondly, to develop proposals for better development of a domestic voluntary offset market.
The findings from this previous study have been updated in the research project “How does Germany offset GHG emissions?” (published in German “Wie kompensiert Deutschland?“ with an eight-page summary in English). For this purpose, five countries with domestic markets for offsetting were presented and examined. The study shows the tension that arises for carbon offset projects in Germany when requirements of the Paris Agreement as well as national and European regulations are considered. As the title of the study reveals, it also reflects the current market survey. In order to understand the development of the market in recent years , as well as to investigate the demand for certificates from German climate protection projects in the light of the requirements of the Paris Agreement, a new analysis of the German market for voluntary greenhouse gas offsetting is carried out for the years 2017 to 2020.
23/12/2022
Studies
Workshops
Studies on forest carbon projects
Companies as well as individuals can offset carbon dioxide emissions by investing in forest carbon projects. Thereby, high quality standards must be adhered to. A new publication „Investing in forest carbon projects - Guidelines for companies and private investors” by the rainforest foundation OroVerde and the Global Nature Fund depicts possible criteria.
Source: Oro Verde/Elke Mannigel
The brochure provides an overview of the different types of forest carbon projects, introduces the carbon market as well as the current standards in the German-speaking area, and assesses these standards on the basis of criteria. An actual project from Paraguay exemplifies how the recommendation of the guidelines can be implemented.This project has been documented in a second publication „Chances and challenges of forest and carbon projects – A pioneer project in Paraguay“ (this publication is available in German only).
Both brochures are part of the project „Climate and forest protection for private investors” which was jointly conducted by OroVerde and Global Nature Fund. The project is funded by the German Environment Agency and the Federal Ministry for the Environment.
Study on post-2021 offsetting
The transition from the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement represents a fundamental change in the global control of greenhouse gas emissions which also affects the voluntary market. Whether and how to avoid ‘double counting’ of emission reductions is a critical issue – especially using the same emission reduction to achieve voluntary offsetting and to reach a country's mandatory target under the Paris Agreement (NDCs).
The study focuses on the future international structure of the voluntary carbon market. It identifies three models, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, feasible in the Paris era:
- Acting ‘outside’ a country's mandatory contribution – referred to as ‘non-NDC crediting’ by experts.
- Acting ‘within’ such a contribution – ‘NDC crediting’ model – and
- Jointly achieving the emission reduction target without an offset claim – referred to as the ‘contribution claim’ model.
Impacts and benefits of the models are likely to change over time if NDCs are expanded.
Aiming at maximising climate protection effects and hedging against some of the risks arising from the models' features, the study draws the following conclusion: the market should focus on project activities with challenging reduction options and on host countries with ambitious targets.
In this context it is important that the voluntary carbon market ensures that the project activities to be supported do not prevent governments from enhancing their own climate protection efforts.
07/02/2022