UPM’s much respected Sichuan Rural Poor-Household Biogas PoA (CDM PoA 2898, GS 1239), is one of only five climate protection projects that have recently been selected by the German Government to offset the negative climate impact of necessary business trips by its employees in 2014.

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compensation measure will cover the current legislative period (2014-2017) and will include emissions from car trips and air travel. Train rides will not be considered for compensation because of the purchase of long-distance transport “green tickets” by the Federal Government. The power demand for these trips is completely generated by renewable energies; these business trips are therefore already climate neutral.

The calculated GHG emissions caused by Federal Government business travel are compensated for by acquiring and cancelling certificates from high-quality CDM climate protection projects. CDM is one of three flexible mechanisms envisaged by the Kyoto Protocol for reducing GHG emissions and belongs to the project-based mechanisms. With the acquisition of certificates from this proven instrument of climate protection, the reform process in the CDM will also be promoted.

In addition to the UN rules for CDM, careful attention is paid to compliance with additional criteria to ensure high quality of the selected projects. Thus, climate protection projects should demonstrate an additional impact beyond the reduction of CO₂ and have a verifiable co-benefit for the inhabitants of the project’s host countries. These co-benefits are for example, training of local workers, the support of local facilities, the protection of the environment and of natural resources, rural electrification, strengthening of local jobs and improving health.

Further criteria in the procurement of top-tier CDM projects include
• an additional Gold Standard certification,
• an embedding into the climate change policies of the host country and
• the promotion of small programmatic projects, if possible from the least developed countries.

UPM is proud to supply the German government with Gold Standard CERs from our best climate protection programme. As a leading developer of CDM projects, we highly appreciate the German government’s ambitious carbon offset initiative as it is a long awaited and important support for the depressed markets for CDM certificates that hopefully will motivate many other public and private sector institutions in Germany and elsewhere to follow this prominent example. - Martin Dilger, Managing Director of UPM

For more information about the German governments travel-related carbon offset approach, please visit the website of the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) at the German Environment Agency.

Your contacts at UPM for the Sichuan Household Biogas PoA and its GS CERs are:

Martin Dilger, Managing Director, UPM Germany
mdilger(at)upm-cdm.eu, T: +49 89 1222197 – 50

and

Gaiai Guo, Vice General Manager, UPM China
guog(at)upm-cdm.eu, T: +86 10 6468 0500 – 13