From Glasgow to Upper Lusatia
Kickoff for the project "SME climate deal - together on the road to climate neutrality"
A kickoff meeting couldn’t be more fitting. While 25,000 delegates from 200 countries are meeting at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow to discuss how to limit global warming in line with the 1.5-degree target, the HSZG—true to the motto “Think global, act local,” has launched its own initiative to promote climate protection.
Despite numerous studies on achieving climate neutrality, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise worldwide. Consequently, there is an implementation problem when it comes to meeting climate protection requirements. These pose significant challenges, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. These include, for example, difficulties in Scope 3 accounting, integrating climate protection into corporate strategy, and the applicability of methods and standards that have received recognition to one’s own company. In addition to these issues, traditional offsetting to achieve climate neutrality is often not a viable option, as the associated uncertainties and costs are frequently prohibitive for SMEs.
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (a standard for greenhouse gas accounting) categorizes the sources of greenhouse gases into scopes.
- Scope 1: direct emissions from an organization (e.g., natural gas used for heating)
- Scope 2: indirect emissions from energy consumption (e.g., electricity generated at a power plant)
- Scope 3: Indirect emissions from upstream and downstream activities in the value chain (e.g., from the purchase of products)
That is why the German Federal Environmental Foundation is funding the “KMU Klima Deal” project for the next 2.5 years, in which up to 10 companies on the path to climate neutrality will be supported in preparing a greenhouse gas inventory and developing portfolios of strategies and measures for climate neutrality initiatives in Scopes 1, 2, and 3. In doing so, ambitious criteria for achieving climate neutrality are set. This includes, in particular, the further development of the “insetting” approach to create carbon sinks within the value chains of the participating companies.
The current approach to climate neutrality involves offsetting unavoidable emissions. Offsetting primarily involves providing financial support for climate protection projects in the Global South aimed at preventing CO2 emissions (e.g., building a solar farm instead of a coal-fired power plant) and sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere (e.g., planting trees to create carbon sinks). In exchange, the buyer receives a CO2 credit that they can use to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
Due to conflicts regarding the permanence, transparency, and social and environmental sustainability of CO₂ storage, the insetting approach was developed. This refers to the sequestration of CO₂ from the atmosphere within one’s own value chain through natural and technical systems (e.g., the permanent sequestration of CO₂ through the production of biochar from crop residues, which are then returned to the field and improve soil quality). This creates and strengthens new and existing carbon sinks in the region while simultaneously initiating new product and service innovations aimed at CO₂ sequestration.
The experiences are bundled in roadmaps to enable subsequent transfer to the sectors. Many thanks and respect to:
- Borbet Sachsen GmbH,
- Charlotte Meentzen Kräutervital Kosmetik GmbH,
- fit GmbH,
- Ploucquet Textiles Zittau,
- Stadtwerke Zittau GmbH,
- SOWAG Zittau,
- Schnellecke Logistics,
- ULT AG,
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
First floor
This project is funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation.
