myclimate

myclimate
legal form	Non-profit foundation
founding	2006
Seat	Zurich
motto	The Climate Protection Partnership
Website	www.myclimate.org

myclimate - The Climate Protection Partnership is a non-profit foundation that was founded in 2006. It wants to promote climate protection through advice, education and climate protection projects that are financed by customers to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. In 2019, the foundation oversaw over 100 climate projects in 30 countries.

aims

The foundation works to ensure that the externality of CO ₂ receives a price in the market economy, i.e. that it can be integrated into a market economy. The idea behind this is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that z. B. incurred in production or in traffic, to offset in climate protection projects means to reduce in another place. Since it does not matter where the CO ₂ is ultimately reduced, the projects are mostly implemented in southern countries, where you can achieve more climate protection with the same amount of money. However, myclimate has also been developing climate protection projects in Switzerland since 2007 and currently offers over 10 projects on the volunteer and commitment market.

Private individuals, government agencies or companies can purchase climate tickets from the foundation on a voluntary basis, with the proceeds then being passed on to such environmental protection projects . The Swiss Federal Environment Agency DETEC , Liechtenstein , as well as the WWF Climate Group, compensate with the foundation. In addition, myclimate works with several large companies in the area of life cycle assessments, sustainability reporting, resource efficiency and the development of carbon insetting and software solutions.

The foundation has specialized in life cycle analyzes and, together with the Ökozentrum Langenbruck, founded the Climatop association , which distinguishes climate-positive products. The initiative hopes that this will result in more competition from producers to produce better products. The label is used, among others, by Switzerland's largest retailer, Migros .

According to its own statements, the foundation supports climate protection projects according to various standards. The climate protection projects are based on internationally recognized criteria that go back to the Kyoto Protocol. The projects are implemented in accordance with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Gold Standard or - based on its processes, criteria and methods - as myclimate VER projects (Verified Emission Reduction) according to the guidelines of Plan Vivo.

According to its own statements, the foundation only supports projects that directly reduce emissions. This includes the categories “renewable energies”, “energy efficiency” and “reduction of methane emissions in combination with energetic use”.

According to the company, the emission reductions from the climate protection projects are measured over the entire duration of the project and checked by independent bodies.

The foundation develops exhibitions, competitions, textbooks and excursions for schoolchildren, apprentices and professionals, and conducts input lessons and project competitions. The myclimate climate protection game for children, TriCO2lor , was recognized by UNESCO in 2008 .

Companies are supported in reducing their internal resource consumption and operating more sustainably and, if necessary, are awarded a prize when they join the relevant program. An example is the sector-specific service package for the printing and packaging industry or for tourism.

Partner and Patronage

The original idea for the foundation came from former students at ETH Zurich who had campaigned for climate protection under the name myclimate since 2002 . The foundation emerged in 2006 from a merger of this group with a private initiative called CLiPP . The foundation is scientifically supported by various institutes of the ETH. The partners include the Center for Sustainability of the ETH and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy , as well as the economy. The patronage includes the Swiss Environment Minister Doris Leuthard , the former member of the German Bundestag Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus . Myclimate is also a member of the Swiss Climate Alliance .

controversy

In 2011, the Swiss Unfairness Commission prohibited the foundation from making various advertising statements on resource consumption and the potential of various projects as being factually incorrect. In June 2012, the Unlawfulness Commission rejected an appeal by the Foundation against this judgment in full.

In the same year it became known that the foundation held large amounts of funds without investing them in climate protection projects. The foundation contradicted this allegation in a statement: Donations would be invested retrospectively in projects within three years if they have demonstrably generated emission reductions. Until then, the funds in the climate protection fund are earmarked. At the moment, all compensation money is stored in a dedicated fund and invested in projects within two years. The associated certificates will be decommissioned within three years .

Critics describe such initiatives as modern indulgence trading because the certificate markets as well as the projects are burdened with uncertainties. According to the foundation, for this reason the development of the gold standard was promoted together with the WWF . In addition, the difference lies in the fact that compensation donations have an effect and so external costs are internalized.

External evaluation

Two climate projects supervised by the foundation in Peru and Nepal were selected in 2013 as part of the UNFCCC Momentum for Change for the so-called Lighthouse Activities, a funding program for projects against climate change.

The Federal Association of Consumer Organizations classified the foundation in a study from June 2010 on compensation providers for air travel together with two other providers as "recommendable". Another study on behalf of the VZBV from August 2010 sees the foundation behind the providers Atmosfair and Arktik in third place out of 12 direct providers for private individuals and companies. The below-average realism of the calculation led to the devaluation.

In the same year, the foundation took second place in an evaluation study on providers of certificates to offset greenhouse gas emissions at the University of Graz ; A total of 34 European providers were tested. myclimate was best in the category in the area of "Quality of the emissions calculator".

The climate department of the American Tufts University examined 13 organizations that offer offsets for CO ₂ emissions. The criteria were transparency, the accuracy of the emissions calculations, the price of the offsets and administrative costs. The foundation was one of four providers who achieved the grade very well . Myclimate is also among the top 3 in the world in the ENDS Guide.