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Our unique approach
To ensure both climate integrity and positive impact beyond climate, the sustainability-driven Compensate approach is built on 4 pillars: scientific evaluation, built-in overcompensation to mitigate risks, protection of biodiversity and social justice, and a portfolio approach.
Why this approach? The voluntary carbon market is still relatively young, and therefore experiences some growing pains. In order to truly mitigate the climate crisis, we absolutely must take responsibility for our emissions, and the voluntary carbon market enables us to do that. But to make a real difference, compensating emissions must be done well.
What is the Compensate Credit?
The Compensate Credit is a high-quality carbon credit that builds upon international standards, like Gold Standard and Verra, but goes even beyond them. It is based on a diverse portfolio of carbon projects that meet tight criteria related to climate integrity, biodiversity, social justice, and human rights.
The credit provides the best impact-cost ratio and it has an in-built overcompensation that mitigates risks related to carbon projects and enables a more robust compensation claim compared to standard carbon credits.
One Compensate Credit equals at least one less tonne of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
White Paper 2023: Why and how to make a transparent and credible non-offset claim?
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White Paper 2022: Get the Claims Right and Avoid Greenwashing
How to make credible and transparent net zero or carbon neutrality claims?
Our project portfolio
Compensate manages a diverse carbon project portfolio and allocates the compensation funds to purchase certified carbon credits from the projects in it. The portfolio is dynamic and frequently evaluated to deliver the best climate impact in the most sustainable way. 20% of the portfolio is dedicated to innovative methods of carbon capture.
Independent Network of Scientific Advisors, strict project criteria, and international standards assist Compensate in managing the portfolio. We take into account climate impact, biodiversity, social justice, and human rights. This way we strive to deliver the best, most reliable impact to your efforts and challenge the whole field to do better.
Click the map to discover projects
Soil carbon with biochar
Germany
TIST Kenya Community Reforestation
Kenya
Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve
Indonesia
Qianbei Afforestation
China
Jubilacion Segura Agroforestry
Peru
Pacific biochar
Currently Unavailable
Delta Blue Carbon
Pakistan
WithOneSeed Community Reforestation
Currently Unavailable
Verora biochar
Switzerland
Carbuna biochar
Germany
Liangdu Afforestation
Currently Unavailable
Mangrove restoration
Currently Unavailable
NovoCarbo biochar
Currently Unavailable
TIST Uganda Community Reforestation
Currently Unavailable
Rainbow Bee Eater
Currently Unavailable
CarbonCure
Canada
What we look for in projects
Climate integrity
The project...
- Provides reliable calculations and verifications
- Has clear ownership
- Has a realistic baseline
- Has minimal carbon leakage
Positive impact beyond carbon
- People – The project supports the rights and the wellbeing of local communities, people, and minorities.
- Biodiversity – The project’s overall impact to biodiversity is positive, supporting wildlife conservation.
- Cooperation – Compensate prefers to work closely and directly with the project developers.
Project criteria
Having our own project criteria is our way of striving for sustainability. We want to make sure that all projects that Compensate incorporates into its portfolio not only have a positive impact on the climate and are viable in the long term, but also enhance biodiversity, human rights, social justice, and wellbeing of local communities.
Compensate’s criteria helps us identify these projects, because it goes beyond the international standards. By creating it, we challenge the offsetting field and its current standards. We’re not done nor anywhere near finished, and will continue to develop the criteria in the future.
The criteria for forest-based projects were created in collaboration with Compensate’s Scientific Advisory Panel in spring 2020 and the criteria for biochar projects in cooperation and guidance with leading biochar experts in spring 2022.
Reforming the voluntary carbon market
Compensate Foundation, the non-profit arm of Compensate, works to improve the integrity of the voluntary carbon market. This work is supported by the Foundation’s Independent Network of Scientific Advisors. The network provides:
- Assistance in creating and developing open source criteria for high quality carbon projects
- Guidance in identifying new innovative ways of capturing carbon
- Cooperation in research and pilot projects that contribute to creating high integrity solutions for the voluntary carbon market
Articles
Do you know of or work with a project that takes care of carbon? Tell us about it and let's see if it’s a fit for Compensate!
Niklas Kaskeala
Chief Impact Officer
Contact our sustainability team via