Approaches for financing regional climate protection projects by companies in Baden-Württemberg

More and more companies are using voluntary offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions as part of their climate protection strategy. To protect themselves from accusations of greenwashing, however, companies are also showing increasing interest in alternative and complementary approaches to corporate climate financing and contributions to climate protection. Regional climate protection projects that are particularly in demand are mainly nature-based project types, i.e. projects that implement so-called nature-based solutions. The project "Approaches for financing regional climate protection projects by companies in Baden-Württemberg" analysed possibilities for the voluntary support of regional nature-based climate protection projects in Baden-Württemberg by companies. This support can be provided as an alternative or supplement to classic greenhouse gas compensation.

adelphi examined how such a commitment to regional climate protection can be implemented in a meaningful way. Furthermore, it considered how these activities can be integrated into the climate protection strategies of companies in Baden-Württemberg. For this purpose, a literature research on the status quo of nature-based solutions as well as their financing and integration into climate protection strategies was conducted. On the basis of focus group interviews, a practical guide for companies on the financing of regional projects was developed. In cross-company strategy workshops, the findings were finally processed for participating companies and the practical guide was applied and tested. In addition to testing the practical guide, recommendations for action for project development were derived from the strategy workshops.