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The trend to make the Internet a greener place is also growing. Which is why you can find more and more climate protection agencies and the sale of so-called CO2 certificates online. A good thing?
The Internet is not only the linchpin of modern communication, but also the central nervous system of the global economy. It is no longer a secret that streaming, surfing and storage on the Internet now account for a significant proportion of global emissions. “If the Internet were a country, it would have the sixth largest electricity consumption in the world,” says Niklas Schinerl, Greenpeace expert for energy. As in other areas of life, emissions by each individual can also be reduced here. However, as digitalization grows, there is an increasing dependence in the areas mentioned above, in contrast to steak or jeans, which is due in particular to the lack of alternatives. In short: There are no vegan cloud services or zero-waste emails yet. The challenge is therefore to compensate for the digital infrastructure where its ecological footprint cannot be avoided or reduced, i.e. by investing in additional climate protection measures to offset the amount of emissions that have an impact on the climate. But let's start with a simple first question: How can the company website, which is often the central platform for brand and product communication, be made more CO2 neutral?
The climate compensation market is currently divided into voluntary and mandatory trade. Mandatory trade is regulated under EU law and involves European companies that purchase more than 20 megawatts of district heating capacity and operate steel plants or refineries.
Voluntary trade includes private individuals and companies. The problem here is that this market is not uniformly regulated and does not follow binding standards. The best known and most trustworthy standards are the”Gold Standard”, the Swiss Gold Standard Foundation, which states that attention is not paid to a high CO2 reduction, but also to social benefits and biodiversity, and the”Verified Carbon Standard”, the US NGO Verra, which ensures that all voluntary emissions reductions represent real, quantifiable, additional and lasting project-based emissions reductions. Even though the VCS is the most widely used standard, a recent investigation by Guardians, which states that many CO2 certificates generated by forest protection programs are based on a faulty system. The investigation also says “that while the Verra methods for applying for credits are a serious attempt to measure emissions reductions by reducing deforestation, they are currently not robust enough.” The strife is currently still being played.
One of the most common criticisms of this voluntary trade, however, is that many providers sell certificates at too low prices, without effective effects, which is often compared with the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church. In a tweet dated December 26, 2019, Greta Thunberg criticizes the “climate compensation bluff” and thus warned that the balancing economy is causing more harm than good.
Nonetheless, emissions trading is an important step in climate protection and an easy and good way to start CO2-neutral digital communication. It is important that companies and private individuals take a 360 degree approach to successfully implement the issue of sustainability and, in addition to compensation, many other measures that can be implemented in the company - strategies for using business trips, paper consumption, economical use of cloud services and company bikes. It is also important here: What you don't measure, you don't manage. We have looked at the most important German providers for CO2 compensation for websites:
CO2-neutral website is a global initiative that has already made over 2,500 websites climate-neutral. Investments here mainly go to African water, wind and heating projects. All projects are selected after gold standard verification.
Pro: Transparent calculation method; verified
Contraindications: Investments in the EU amount only to emissions trading.
As the name suggests, Climate Partner offers a comprehensive range of support services related to climate strategy. This means that the climate protection agency offers a range of services relating to climate strategy, from consulting to the integration of IT solutions.
Pro: Climate Partner offers investments in climate protection projects in Germany.
Contraindications: Prices for companies are only available on request.
Here, too, the name says it all. Atmosfair is a climate protection organization with a focus on travel and is supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment and some celebrities, among others. Atmosfair also adheres to the gold standard of its projects; prizes are only available on request.
Pro: Investments exclusively in Gold Standard projects.
Contraindications: Green conscience is available here at very reasonable prices. Here, committed website operators should ask carefully whether the CO2 compensation offers fit their strategic orientations.
The owner-managed climate protection agency is an independent company with a simple and clear cost structure and uniform solutions for companies. They also stand out from pure certificate sellers and offer investments in their own forest protection projects in South America.
Pro: Offering a Waldmix portfolio.
Contraindications: Service fee over 50€ per year.
Companies are increasingly responsible for credibly defining their climate protection measures. Climate protection agencies can help with this, but it is worth taking a critical look at the growing number of providers, because not everything that says green is also beneficial to the climate.
Things worth knowing: Greenpeace rated in a study From 2017, the energy consumption of the 15 largest Internet giants, with Apple and Facebook leading the way in clean energy and Amazon Web Services, which also houses Netflix movies and series, took one of the back ranks.
A detailed list of other compensation providers in Germany can be found at Energy Consensus or take a look at the evaluation of Stiftung Warentest.
In recent months, Uhura has worked intensively on expanding its expertise in the area of climate-neutral communication services. Reach out to usif you are interested in implementing climate-friendly communication.
