Carbon-connect AG: Contributing to a Greener Future

Carbon-connect AG: Contributing to a Greener Future Intelligenthq

The gloomy reality of global warming is no breaking news to anyone. Global warming is threatening our planet, as it is transforming the usual seasons that we have grown accustomed to, and is endangering species all over the planet. The beautiful faces of the Earth as we know it, with its coasts, forests, farms, and snow-capped mountains will inevitably change, if nothing is done. If you are from Louisville, it is a good idea to hire an expert tree planting company in Louisville because limate change affects everyone.

Worldwide, scientists, politicians and the common citizen are figuring out ways to reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emissions to minimize their impact on the environment. Various programs trying to find solutions to the problem of climate change have been established, particularly after the Kyoto protocol agreement, that even thought it was written in 1997, had to wait until 2005 to be put into practice.

Carbon-connect AG is a Swiss based company that has been making valuable work in this area, as it provides firms with ways to cut their carbon emissions wherever possible. In addition, carbon-connect AG advises their clients on ways to implement various strategies that compensate a carbon footprint.

What is Carbon-connect AG?

Carbon-connect AG  was founded by Pascal Freudenreich and Walter Wirth in 2013, with the clear goal of providing individuals and companies with simple solutions that contribute to climate protection. The company’s vision is to support high quality climate protection projects that will make our future and the future of our children more livable. Carbon-connect AG thus aims to contribute to an ideal shift in society towards a knowledge-based, low carbon economy, by becoming a world leader in carbon offsetting, project development & carbon management services.

The company is the result of Pascal Freudenreich’s enthusiasm and commitment to make a contribution towards a solution of the biggest challenge humanity faces in 21st century. Pascal Freudenreich, a Swiss citizen, started his career in finance, after having lived 10 years abroad (in the USA and Germany). He then returned to Switzerland in 2007, to be a partner for a financial company in Zurich. When he was introduced to the voluntary carbon market, around 2012, he became very inspired by its opportunities. He and his team thus developed the original idea of creating products such as climate friendly labels: carbon-neutral car, carbon-neutral activities, carbon-neutral company and the climate friendly website label, to provide individuals and companies with engaging products that contribute to the compensation of the greenhouse gases. Their latest label: the climate friendly website works not only by supporting high quality climate protection projects, as Carbon-connect AG also plants one tree per person who buys the climate friendly website label. Their goal is to plant 3 million trees within the next years, with the help of supporters and customers. You can also choose to hire an expert tree planting company in Sanford.

Carbon-connects website, states the mission of the company which is:

“To demonstrate environmentally and socially responsible entrepreneurs the most efficient way to make their processes or an entire company carbon- neutral. Through targeted support of high-quality climate protection projects our customers achieve an image improvement and take a pioneering role in the preservation of the environment.  We create a WIN-WIN situation: win for our customers and a win for the environment and society.”

The services provided by the company are varied including:

  • Online Carbon Footprint Calculator
  • Climate friendly & carbon-neutral labels
  • Strategy concerning Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Each climate friendly label has its own PR/marketing package

In the company’s website any individual or company can apply for a certificate as a climate friendly website, and/or a certificate as carbon neutral, which is attributed to either an individual, car, household or company. The process is simple: with the tool of the carbon footprint one calculates each one´s carbon emissions, and can then choose to become carbon neutral, by choosing a carbon compensation project. The client can opt for a varied selection of climate protection projects that are environmentally friendly, which are certified and validated.

CIKEL Brazilian Amazon REDD APD is a project sponsored by Carbon-connect AG. This project aims for the cancelation of the planned deforestation activities and decision to instead conserve the forest area and continue limited forest management activities in the area. Image source – Uninewsworld.org

Another example is the Gloria Hydroelectric Project, which is a small run-of-river hydroelectric generating plant in the north of the Republic of Honduras. The goal of this project is to use the waters of the Bejucal River to generate energy. The goal is to have a total installed capacity of 6.090 MW and an annual generation of 35.21 GWh. The communities that will benefit directly and indirectly  from this project are the towns of La Gloria, Las Flores, El Satal, Satalito, El Porvenir, El Diamante, and Nueva Esperanza, as the plant will proportionate various employment opportunities  and increased development and economic activity in the region.

To better understand how carbon-connect AG operates one needs to understand what is carbon offset, as it is through this concept that carbon-connect operates.

What is carbon offsetting?

A carbon offset is a compensation in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made as a way to counterweight for and to offset/compensate an emission made elsewhere. When the number of carbon offsets obtained is equal to an individual or organization’s carbon footprint, that person or organization is carbon neutral.

The reasoning behind the carbon offset market, is that the GHG emissions become mixed in the atmosphere over time even though they are produced and discharged in some other place. Carbon offset offers therefore varied alternatives both to individuals with unsustainable behavioral choices and to public reputation of businesses, willing to recuperate their reputation. These can therefore “declare themselves carbon neutral” when purchasing enough offset credits to equal their cumulative GHG emissions.

The following video illustrates how cabon offsetting operates:

How Carbon-connect AG works

Carbon-connect AG provides their clients with ways to integrate environmental protection and sustainable management profitably in their business processes, by establishing a system of offset payments. Those payments are established through the expert advice of a team with a wide range of skills and experience and with broad knowledge in providing services in the carbon credit industry. A way to achieve the status of carbon neutral in your organization might be by providing financial support to projects that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the short- or long-term. These can be renewable energy, such as wind farms, biomass energy, or hydroelectric dams. Other alternatives are forestry projects, or energy efficiency projects, the destruction of industrial pollutants or agricultural byproducts, or the destruction of landfill methane. From a corporate perspective the most popular carbon offset projects are the ones of energy efficiency and wind turbine projects. carbon-connect AG is developing and supporting worldwide carbon offset projects such as substituting fossil fuels with renewable energies, forestry projects and applying energy efficiency measures.

In 2013 carbon-connect AG established a partnership with the Marussia F1 ™ team. In 2013 Marussia F1 ™ Team, thanks to its partnership with Carbon-connect AG, is now carbon-neutral and has successfully offset the Marussia F1 ™ Team’s entire carbon-footprint for 2013.

These and many other successes have established Carbon-connect AG as one of the leading ones in the carbon market. As we all know, global warming and its subsequent climate change dramatic effects are maybe the most important challenges for the 21st century. It is thus mandatory to prevent pollution and to educate citizens and companies to use resources in a more sustainable way.

To invest in a green future is not any more a utopian dream but a mandatory obligation to everyone. Efforts like the ones made by companies like Carbon-connect AG are thus very important.