Freiwillige Kompensation von klimawirksamen Emissionen

In order to mitigate climate change, compensating for it by avoiding emissions has proven to be an effective option. To this end, institutions and private individuals can acquire certificates for voluntary compensation, which are used to finance climate protection projects. Certification is provided based on certain standards. In Germany, there are now dozens of certificate providers and different quality standards.

However, uniform quality requirements do not exist in the voluntary market. The Guide "Freiwillige Kompensation von klimawirksamen Emissionen - Ratgeber zu Qualitätsstandards" (English: Voluntary Carbon Offsets - Guide to Quality Standards) summarizes the most important criteria to be taken into account in the compensation for greenhouse gas emissions and evaluates the most frequent quality standards with regard to these criteria.

» Updated analysis of the German market for voluntary carbon offsets