Supporting climate action projects

Alongside calculating and reducing emissions, the financial support of certified climate action projects is an important step in holistic climate action and a key measure within 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.For this reason, the location in which emissions are generated or avoided is of secondary importance. This is why, in cooperation with ClimatePartner, we support climate action projects equivalent to the calculated emissions of our products for residential construction and products für construction projects.

We are currently unable to avoid or reduce all emissions. We take responsibility for this by financially supporting internationally certified climate action projects from the ClimatePartner portfolio, equivalent to the calculated emissions of products for residential construction and products für construction projects.

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.

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.