Compensation – Offsetting our remaining emissions
In addition to calculation and reduction, the offsetting of CO₂ emissions is an essential step in comprehensive climate action and a key component of our sustainability strategy. Greenhouse gases, such as CO₂, are distributed evenly in the atmosphere, meaning that the concentration of greenhouse gas is roughly the same everywhere on Earth. It is therefore irrelevant where on Earth emissions are produced or avoided. That’s why we offset any remaining emissions from our products for residential construction and products for constuction projects by supporting certified climate protection projects in collaboration with ClimatePartner. In this way, we compensate 100.000 tonnes of CO₂ every year.
For Residential Construction Projects
For Construction Projects
marked the start of our efforts to offset our remaining CO₂ emissions in cooperation with ClimatePartner
of CO₂ have been offset since then
beech trees would be required to achieve the same level of climate protection
Supporting climate protection projects
Since it is not yet possible to prevent all emissions, we compensate for our remaining emissions by supporting various climate protection projects in third countries. Projects focused on implementing renewable energy, have been proven to save greenhouse gases and make an important contribution to combating global warming. These projects also promote sustainable development in the project countries; for example, by developing the local infrastructure or creating jobs.
As a family business, we make a point of including our employees, suppliers and customers in our sustainability activities. After all, we can only stop climate change if we work together. In ClimatePartner, we have found a reliable partner for both calculating and offsetting our emissions.
Sustainable Development Goals
By promoting climate protection projects in emerging and developing countries, we are also constantly supporting the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as verified under the Gold Standard, for example. As well as offsetting emissions, many of the projects we support are also geared towards achieving the goal of “Quality education” – for example, by distributing school packages to primary school pupils and organising local training programmes on topics such as agriculture or plumbing. In addition, all projects that are geared towards Goal 17, “Partnerships for the goals”, create a bridge between us, a company from an industrialised country, and communities in the poorest regions of the world. By providing modern, climate-friendly technology in the project regions, we are also aiming generally to promote clean development and the “leapfrogging” of technology that is harmful to the environment.
High certification standards
All the climate protection projects we invest in are certified according to the Gold Standard. More than half of all voluntary emission reductions worldwide are validated and verified under this standard. The standard stipulates clear specifications for determining CO₂ savings in different project types, such as reforestation or wind power. Projects must also be audited – and transparently and conservatively calculated – by independent third parties selected at random (such as TÜV) from the planning phase until the last certificates expire. The certificates generated from these projects are called Verified Carbon Units (VCUs).
The projects we support also follow the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM is one of the flexible mechanisms proposed by the Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The CDM is used to implement climate protection projects in developing and emerging countries. Certified emission reductions (CERs) can be counted towards reduction targets in industrialised countries. The CDM mechanism is therefore an important driving factor in the transfer of clean technology and the resulting sustainable economic development in these countries.
Our sustainability projects
In addition to a high certification standard, we also value a direct link to our projects. That’s why the projects we already support include wind energy projects in India, where we ourselves are represented with our own production site. This enables us to stay close to the projects as a company and also means that local employees in India can visit the projects we support there.
The climate protection projects we support are selected each year based on our criteria and in accordance with the amount of CO2 we need to offset. You can find out more here:
