Kickoff for the project "SME climate deal - together on the road to climate neutrality"
A kick-off meeting could not be more fitting. While 25,000 delegates from 200 countries are discussing how global warming can be limited in line with the 1.5 degree target at the World Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, the HSCG has initiated its own contribution to greater climate protection in line with the motto "Think global, act local".
Despite numerous studies on achieving climate neutrality, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise worldwide. Consequently, there is an implementation problem with regard to meeting the requirements relevant to climate protection. These pose major challenges for small and medium-sized companies in particular. These include, for example, the difficulties in accounting for Scope 3, anchoring it in the corporate strategy or the transferability of recognized methods and standards to their own company. In addition to these points, traditional offsetting to achieve climate neutrality is often not an option, as the associated uncertainties and costs are often not affordable for SMEs.
In the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (a standard for greenhouse gas accounting), the areas of origin of greenhouse gases are summarized in scopes.
This is why the German Federal Environmental Foundation is funding the "SME Climate Deal" project for the next 2.5 years, in which up to 10 companies will be supported on their way to climate neutrality by drawing up a greenhouse gas balance sheet and deriving strategy and action portfolios for climate neutrality measures in Scopes 1, 2 and 3. Ambitious criteria are set for achieving climate neutrality. In particular, this includes the further development of the insetting approach to create carbon sinks in the value chain of the participating companies.
The current practice of climate neutrality involves offsetting unavoidable emissions. Offsetting mainly involves financially supporting climate protection projects in the global South to avoid CO2 (e.g. building a solar park instead of a coal-fired power plant) and bind CO2 from the atmosphere (e.g. planting trees for carbon sinks). In exchange, the buyer receives a CO2 credit that he can offset against his greenhouse gas emissions.
Due to conflicts regarding the permanence, transparency, social and ecological compatibility of CO2 storage, the insetting approach was developed. This refers to the binding of CO2 from the atmosphere within one's own value chain using natural and technical systems (e.g. the permanent binding of CO2 through the production of biochar from crop waste, which is then spread back onto the field and improves soil quality). This creates and strengthens new and existing carbon sinks in the region and at the same time initiates new product and service innovations with the aim of binding CO2.
The experiences are bundled in roadmaps to enable subsequent transfer to the sectors. Many thanks and respect to:
who are involved in the project as pilot companies, as well as SAENA GmbH and IHK Dresden, who support the project as multipliers.
Website: https://kmu-klima-deal.hszg.de
Team: David Horsch and Sarah Barth
This project is funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation.
