our project principles

When you buy a carbon offset through ClimateCare, your money is used to fund projects that reduce emissions on your behalf. As well as making savings in greenhouse gases, the projects often have wider benefits to the local communities and environment.

We have two main types of project:

• Renewable energy - replacing non-renewable fuel such as fossil fuels
• Energy efficiency - reducing the amount of fuel needed

Here are the principles on which our carbon reductions are based:

• New reductions:  your offset payment is used to CO₂ reductions that would not have happened otherwise.  
• Beyond government commitments:  ClimateCare funds projects in countries that do not already have Kyoto Protocal carbon reduction targets.  This ensures that we are not simply paying to help Governments to achieve what they have already promised.
• Real reductions: all our projects are verified by a third party organisation, and we will be ensuring that going forward all our projects - with the exception of a few very small scale ones - achieve the newly launched Gold Standard (for VERS), Voluntary Carbon Standard or United Nations CER certification.
• Integrity: all our work until recently has been overseen by an Environmental Steering Committee.  This was chaired by Sir Crispin Tickell (formerly the UK ambasador to the UN) and has members from leading charities such as WWF and Forum for the Future. 
• Investing in low-carbon technologies:  over the last ten years ClimateCare has led the way in developing offset projects that help promote key renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies - which are essential to move the world to a low-carbon future.

For a more detailed explanation of our approach to carbon reduction, please see the Project Principles page on our main website.