ClimateCare

Last updated

ClimateCare
TypePrivately held company
Industry Green
Founded1997
FoundersMike Mason, Edward Hanrahan and Tom Morton
Headquarters
Oxford
,
United Kingdom
Number of locations
3 (United Kingdom, Kenya, India)
Area served
Worldwide
Products Carbon offsets, RECs, Social impact outcomes
ServicesCSR programmes, Government Aid Programmes, Supply Chain and market development projects in India and Africa
Website climatecare.org

ClimateCare is a profit for purpose environmental and social impact company known for its role providing carbon offset services, with a particular focus on using carbon and other results based finance to support its 'Climate+Care Projects'. [1] It also provides businesses and governments with sustainable development programmes, environmental and social impact measurement and project development. [2]

Contents

The company was founded in 1997 with a focus on projects that cut carbon and fund social development. ClimateCare is a certified B Corporation and a founding member of the B Corporation movement in the UK. [3] The company has offices in the UK, India, and Kenya.

History

ClimateCare was founded in 1997 to encourage organisations and individuals to take voluntary action on climate change. [4] In 2001, ClimateCare was contracted by The Co-operative Bank to replant part of the rainforest in the Kibale National Park as part of the bank's effort to create a carbon neutral mortgage product. [5] [6]

In 2007, ClimateCare worked with The Travel Foundation to establish the World Care Fund, the largest emission reduction programme in the travel industry. [7] On 24 August 2007, ClimateCare announced that it had delivered its first million tonnes of greenhouse gas emission reductions. [8] Climate Care was sold to J.P.Morgan in 2008 and became part of its Environmental Markets business. [9] It was taken private through a Management Buy Out in 2011 and began operating under a 'profit for purpose' business model. [10] In 2012, ClimateCare worked with the Kenyan government to develop a 10-year National Climate Change plan. [11] In 2014, ClimateCare was awarded the Queen's Awards for Enterprise for its contribution to addressing climate change.

In April 2016, the company announced it has funded over 20.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emission reductions worldwide and improved the lives of 16.5 million people. [12] In 2018 ClimateCare was ranked as the number one B Corporation in the UK. [13]

Operations

ClimateCare designs and delivers projects that deliver against multiple Sustainable Development Goals and measures both environmental and social outcomes from these projects. It uses a market approach to sustainable development, kick starting markets for live enhancing goods and services. The company developed a Revolving Fund model which it is using to create a new market for clean burning ethanol cookers in Kenya, helping the community to leapfrog traditional development pathways. [14] ClimateCare also works with corporations by measuring their carbon, natural capital and social impacts, and has worked with organisations such as Jaguar Land Rover and Aviva. [15] [16]

ClimateCare projects

ClimateCare funds many projects around the world mainly in developing countries with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting sustainable development in these countries. Projects are submitted to various independent standards to ensure accuracy, additionality and verification that emissions reductions are achieved. [17] Standards for carbon offsetting include the Gold Standard, developed by charities such as WWF, and the Voluntary Carbon Standard developed by The Climate Group.

Cookstove projects: In 2009, ClimateCare partnered with Impact Carbon and registered the first voluntary Gold Standard cookstove project. This project creates a market for fuel-efficient stoves in households and institutions throughout Uganda. These stoves use less charcoal than traditional cooking methods, cutting carbon emissions and reducing indoor air pollution, making them much less damaging to the health of the cooks and their families. [18] As of June 2016, the partnership had sold more than 835,000 stoves, while creating over 700 jobs and cutting 824,977 tonnes of carbon emissions. [19]

In November 2014, the company partnered with Safi International to distribute ethanol cookstoves in Kenya. Through a mixture of micro-financing, government subsidies and carbon finance, ClimateCare was able create a revolving market for the stoves that allowed the initial capital to be reused. [20] [21] ClimateCare has also used a revolving fund model on the Pamoja Life project that helps provide cookstoves, solar lighting and other low-carbon products to very poor people in east Africa. [22]

LifeStraw Carbon for Water: In 2012, ClimateCare partnered with health company Vestergaard Frandsen to develop this project that uses carbon finance to fund provision of safe water to 4 million people in Western Kenya. [17] The project was the first in the world to link carbon credits with water provision at scale and has won awards including the Carbon Finance Transaction of the Year award 2012. [23]

AquaClara project: In 2014, the Non-profit organisation Aqua Clara International, partnered with ClimateCare to establish a water purification project in Kenya, manufacturing and distributing household water filters that replace the need to boil water. The resulting emissions reductions are measured, independently verified and sold to businesses that want to reduce their unavoidable carbon footprint by supporting projects that improve people's lives as well as the environment.

The project is funded through the sale of carbon credits and, as a result, an estimated 18,750 families will have safe water by May 2017. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

Environmental finance is a field within finance that employs market-based environmental policy instruments to improve the ecological impact of investment strategies. The primary objective of environmental finance is to regress the negative impacts of climate change through pricing and trading schemes. The field of environmental finance was established in response to the poor management of economic crises by government bodies globally. Environmental finance aims to reallocate a businesses resources to improve the sustainability of investments whilst also retaining profit margins.

A carbon credit is a generic term for any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas (tCO2e).

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a United Nations-run carbon offset scheme allowing countries to fund greenhouse gas emissions-reducing projects in other countries and claim the saved emissions as part of their own efforts to meet international emissions targets. It is one of the three Flexible Mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM, defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, was intended to meet two objectives: (1) to assist non-Annex I countries achieve sustainable development and reduce their carbon footprints; and (2) to assist Annex I countries in achieving compliance with their emissions reduction commitments.

Carbon offset Carbon dioxide reduction scheme

A carbon offset is a reduction or removal of emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. Offsets are measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e). One ton of carbon offset represents the reduction or removal of one ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases. Both the Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Offsetting and the Science Based Targets initiative's Net-Zero Criteria argue for the importance of moving beyond offsets based on reduced or avoided emissions to offsets based on carbon that has been sequestered from the atmosphere, such as CO2 Removal Certificates (CORCs).

Business action on climate change includes a range of activities relating to global warming, and to influencing political decisions on global-warming-related regulation, such as the Kyoto Protocol. Major multinationals have played and to some extent continue to play a significant role in the politics of global warming, especially in the United States, through lobbying of government and funding of global warming deniers. Business also plays a key role in the mitigation of global warming, through decisions to invest in researching and implementing new energy technologies and energy efficiency measures.

Improved cookstove

Improved cook stoves (ICS) are biomass stoves that are intended to replace traditional cook stoves and open fires, in the context of energy poverty and cooking. As of 2020, more than 2.6 billion people in developing countries lack access to clean, modern fuel and technologies for cooking, and therefore rely on burning polluting fuels such as wood, animal dung, coal, or kerosene for cooking.

Carbon finance is a branch of environmental finance that covers financial tools such as carbon emission trading to reduce the impact of greenhouse gases (GHG) on the environment by giving carbon emissions a price.

Offsetters is a Vancouver-based organization that aims to guide people and organizations seeking to reduce their climate impact. It was established through the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Offsetters aim to provide greenhouse gas management solutions. Their platform is "Less Talk, More Action". Their social objective is to contribute the most to fight global warming and to help sustainable development in the local communities surrounding their projects. Around 80% of their funds received in 2006 were directly invested into projects.

Household air pollution Air pollution that is mostly caused by cooking with polluting fuels

Household air pollution (HAP) is a significant form of indoor polluted air mostly relating to cooking and heating methods used in developing countries.

EcoSecurities is a company specialised in carbon markets and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation projects worldwide. EcoSecurities specialises in sourcing, developing and financing projects on renewable energy, energy efficiency, forestry and waste management with a positive environmental impact.

Project Gaia

Project Gaia is a U.S. non-governmental, non-profit organization involved in the creation of a commercially viable household market for alcohol-based fuels in Ethiopia and other countries in the developing world. The project considers alcohol fuels to be a solution to fuel shortages, environmental damage, and public health issues caused by traditional cooking in the developing world. Targeting poor and marginalized communities that face health issues from cooking over polluting fires, Gaia currently works in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Brazil, Haiti, and Madagascar, and is in the planning stage of projects in several other countries.

E+Co is a non-governmental organization based in Bloomfield, New Jersey, United States, that from its founding in 1994 to its restructuring in 2012 made over 250 clean energy investments in developing countries. Over these 18 years, E+Co maintained field offices in San Jose, Costa Rica, Bangkok, Thailand, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Accra, Ghana. The company's name is pronounced, "E and Co".

Pedro Moura Costa is an entrepreneur involved in environmental finance with a focus on the international efforts for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. Of particular relevance, he was the founder and President of EcoSecurities Group Plc., one of the leading project developers for the international carbon markets, and has written widely about the policy and science of climate change mitigation, including contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports.

Top Third Ventures

Top Third Ventures is a limited liability company headquartered in Mauritius with a subsidiary registered in Kenya that deals mainly with carbon credits and Bottom of the Pyramid consumer segmentation. The company provides financiers, manufacturers, and distributors of efficient cook stoves access to carbon finance through its carbon credit programme, which is accessible though a mobile app.

BioLite

BioLite is a social enterprise on a mission to empower people and protect the planet through access to renewable energy. The company designs groundbreaking cooking, charging, and lighting solutions for both outdoor enthusiasts and off-grid households in emerging markets. To date, BioLite has enabled over one million people across sub-Saharan Africa to access safe, reliable energy and avoided over 403,000 tons of CO2 in the atmosphere.

InStove is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2012.

Cool Effect

Cool Effect is a crowdfunding platform that provides individuals the opportunity to support carbon emissions reductions by funding carbon-reducing projects around the world. Cool Effect is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Greenbrae, California.

Atmosfair is an independent German non-profit organization which offers offsets for greenhouse gases emitted by aircraft, cruise ships, long-distance coaches, and events. The organization, founded in 2005, develops and finances small-scale energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in developing countries, which lead to reduced carbon emissions. Atmosfair has repeatedly won acclaim for operating with a high degree of transparency and accountability, as well as efficient use of funds.

CO2balance

CO2balance UK Ltd is a British profit-for-purpose carbon management consultancy and project developer founded in 2003. It is known for developing carbon finance projects in developing countries that reduce carbon emissions and support the Sustainable Development Goals. CO2balance also provides businesses and individuals with carbon footprint calculation and reduction services, bestowing the label of ‘CarbonZero’ on those organisations that completely offset the footprint of their operations.

Sangwon Suh

Sangwon Suh is an American industrial ecologist.

References

  1. ↑ "Aviva's Carbon Offset Programme Has Improved the Lives of 200,000". Aviva. 28 August 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  2. ↑ Simpson, Anna (14 October 2014). "ClimateCare Receives Highest Honour For UK Company". Green Futures Magazine. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "ClimateCare". BCorporation. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "Aviva Develops New Way to Measure Carbon Offsetting". Ethical Performance. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  5. ↑ Wennemyr, Susan (14 January 2012). "UK Bank Offers Green Mortgages". Social Funds. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  6. ↑ "To Co-operative Bank". BSD Global. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  7. ↑ Martineau, Imogen (2 March 2007). "Forum of the Future Welcomes New World Care Fund From First Choice". Forum For the Future. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  8. ↑ "ClimateCare". Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  9. ↑ Vidal, John (27 March 2008). "JP Morgan Buys British Carbon Offset Company". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  10. ↑ Airle, Catherine (8 August 2008). "ClimateCare Buys Itself Out From JP Morgan, Targets U.N. Offsets". Bloomberg. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  11. ↑ "Kenya's Climate Change Action Plan: Low Carbon Climate Resilient Development Pathway" (PDF). Climate and Development Knowledge Network. 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  12. ↑ "ClimateCare reports impressive impact figures". ClimateCare.
  13. ↑ "ClimateCare | Certified B Corporation". bcorporation.net. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  14. ↑ "ClimateCare Wins Carbon Finance Transaction of the Year Award". ClimateCare.
  15. ↑ Simpson, Will (25 March 2014). "Jaguar Land Rover Embraces Carbon Finance to Deliver Change". Triple Pundit. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  16. ↑ "Aviva Develops New Way to Measure Carbon Offsetting". Ethical Performance. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  17. 1 2 Ni Chonghaile, Clar (29 November 2012). "Straw Poll Finds in Favor of Western Kenya's Water and Carbon Solution". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  18. ↑ "Impact Carbon's Cookstove Programme – Carbon Revenues for Monitoring and Capacity Building". Global Alliance For Clean Cookstoves. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  19. ↑ "Ghana Stove Project Cuts Deforestation, Improves Health and Generates Small Businesses". Environment Times. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  20. ↑ "Ethanol Stoves Give Boost to Kenya's Poor". ShanghaiDaily. 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  21. ↑ "Carbon: ClimateCare's Ethanol Cookstoves Fund". Environmental Finance. 1 April 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  22. ↑ Balch, Oliver (20 July 2016). "Investors' Neglect of Small-Scale Renewables Threatens Universal Energy Access". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  23. ↑ "ClimateCare supported project wins Carbon Finance Transaction of the Year". ClimateCare. 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  24. ↑ Szmigielski, Rhiannon (2 September 2014). "Funding Safe Water This World Water Week". Sustain. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
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