South Pole desarrolla estrategias integrales que convierten la acción climática en oportunidades de negocio a largo plazo para empresas, gobiernos y organizaciones de todo el mundo, y ha estado a la cabeza de la economía baja en carbono desde 2006. South Pole es también uno de los principales promotores de proyectos y ha llevado a cabo casi 1000 proyectos en los sectores de las energías renovables, la silvicultura, la agricultura, la industria, los hogares y las instituciones públicas en más de 50 países. Gracias al financiamiento climático, South Pole ha ahorrado más de una gigatonelada de emisiones de CO2, ha proporcionado ayuda social a las comunidades menos privilegiadas que son especialmente vulnerables al cambio climático y ha contribuido a crear casi 100 000 puestos de trabajo en los países en vías de desarrollo.
Nuestra estrategia de reducción de gases de efecto invernadero
Title:Hasta la fecha, y partiendo del 2019 como año base, ya hemos reducido las emisiones de alcance 1 y 2 en un 12 % y las de alcance 3 en un 26 %. Seguimos invirtiendo considerablemente en nuestra fabricación, distribución, procesos y políticas para acelerar nuestras reducciones de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero y actuar en consonancia con el Acuerdo de París de 2015.
Una estrategia climática completa que presenta todas las metodologías, entre ellas la reducción, la eliminación y la compensación.
De hecho, además de nuestros ambiciosos planes de reducción y de los proyectos climáticos con South Pole, también hemos firmado recientemente un acuerdo de 5 años con Climeworks para eliminar activamente el CO2 de la atmósfera (obtén más información aquí).
Lo cierto es que todas las soluciones climáticas que existen (cuando están certificadas y son adicionales) son válidas. Es importante tomar todas las medidas y soluciones disponibles, y no solo una. Por eso, con South Pole, elegimos 3 proyectos clave para diversificar nuestras repercusiones en los ámbitos de la protección de la biodiversidad, la captación de biogás y la energía hidroeléctrica.
Huóshuĭ Small Hydropower
Title:Energía limpia para las comunidades montañosas más aisladas de China
Subtitle:Similarly, the powerful rivers of China's mountainous areas can be harnessed to generate electricity for its remote communities and the wider region, but hydroelectric power plants require substantial investment to set up. Prior to the project, local communities experienced poor living conditions. At a time when 80 percent of Chinas energy demands were met by coal-fired power stations, these communities had unreliable access to electricity and there was little regional investment.
Huóshuĭ Small Hydropower consists of 95 small hydropower plants. The small-scale plants range in capacity from 0.1 to 14 MW, and together supply enough renewable energy to power over half a million average Chinese homes each year. Their run-of-river design allows them to do so with minimal environmental impact.
- Project standards: SocialCarbon, VCS Verified Carbon Standard
Impacts:
- 369,000 tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents) mitigated each year (SDG13)
- 740,000MWh of renewable energy generated annually (SDG7)
- Contributions to United Nations SDGs 4, 8 and 5.
Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve
Title:Preserving Borneo's tropical peat swamp forests and improving local lives
Subtitle:The Rimba Raya peat swamp forests are located in Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. Before the project was established, these immensely biodiverse tropical peatlands were scheduled for conversion into four palm oil estates by the provincial government.
The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve protects 91,215 hectares of rich, tropical peat swamp forests which are monitored by local rangers as well as by satellite and aerial imagery. As well as preserving ecosystem diversity and the habitat of endangered species like the Bornean orangutan, the project reduces emissions by avoiding the planned deforestation of over 47,000 hectares of forests for palm oil production.
The Rimba Raya project not only sequesters carbon and protects habitat for local wildlife; it also promotes local sustainable development, particularly regarding environmental education and economic capacity building.
Project standards:
- Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards (Verra)
- VCS Verified Carbon Standard (Verra)
Impacts:
- 2,162 water filters distributed
- 47,237 hectares protected
- 3,500,000 tonnes of CO2e mitigated
Lan Dokmai Waste-to-energy
Title:Reducing climate impacts and helping with sustainable biogas
Subtitle:Thailand is one of the largest producers of Tapioca starch, which forms an important part of the economy. Unfortunately, starch production is a carbon-intensive process that not only damages the environment but also produces strong-smelling methane emissions from the wastewater that affect the quality of life in surrounding areas.
Rather than allowing the methane to escape freely into the atmosphere, the project captures the gas in order to produce clean electricity. This electricity powers production at the local starch factory; as a result, the air is cleaner and less fossil fuel needs to be purchased. This means that revenue can be generated to support social and educational activities in the community.
With less methane emissions, the quality of the air surrounding the plant has improved dramatically. In addition to this, new jobs and training opportunities for modern technologies are provided by the project. The treated wastewater is much cleaner and can be used for fish farming and irrigation of nearby fields, even the wastewater sludge is given to farmers and recycled for fertilizer.
Just like the renowned Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) is also a greenhouse gas (GHG), so its presence in the atmosphere affects the earth’s temperature and climate system. Methane is emitted from a variety of anthropogenic (human-influenced) and natural sources. Methane is the second most abundant anthropogenic GHG after carbon dioxide, accounting for about 20% of global emissions, and is also more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Therefore, reducing methane emissions has a significant effect on limiting global warming.
Project standards:
• Gold Standard (WWF)
• CDM Clean Development Mechanism (UN FCCC)
Impacts:
- 20,000 tonnes of CO2e
- 2,100 m2 of cleaned wastewater
- 2,200 litres of fossil fuels saved
Frequently Asked Questions
What are carbon credits and how do they work?
Projects must adhere to a rigorous set of criteria to pass verification by third-party agencies and a review by a panel of experts at a leading carbon offset standard like Verra or Gold Standard. After an organization or an individual buys a carbon credit, the credit is permanently retired so it can't be reused.
What makes a good climate action project?
How do I know that the emission reductions are actually happening? What does additionality mean?
For transparency, carbon credits are assigned serial numbers and are issued, transferred and permanently retired in publicly accessible emission registries.
Additionality means that the reductions in emissions achieved by the project must be “above business as usual". That means they would not have happened unless the project was implemented. By purchasing high-quality and verified carbon credits you are directly funding climate action and sustainable development.
What are the different types of climate action projects?
- The first avoids greenhouse gas emissions, for example replacing fossil fuel-derived energy with energy from renewable sources.
- The second removes emissions from the atmosphere, for example, planting more trees, which sequester - or capture - carbon from the atmosphere and store it in liquid or solid form.
- The third captures and destroys emissions, for example capturing methane–a GHG many times more potent than carbon dioxide–from wastewater.
Our global partner South Pole has hundreds of different climate action projects, which cover the following areas:
- Nature-based-solutions (reforestation, land restoration, forest protection, sustainable land management and agriculture)
- Renewable energy (hydropower projects, wind projects, solar power and geothermal)
- Community projects (improved cookstove technology, access to safe water)
- Waste-to-energy (biogas from landfill or industry, and biomass).
