Questions about the Klima-Kollekte

The Klima-Kollekte is a non-profit limited liability company, which was founded in 2011. The office is located in Berlin. The bodies of the Klima-Kollekte gGmbH are the management and the shareholders' meeting. The shareholders' meeting is composed of one representative from each of the shareholders and forms the supervisory body of Klima-Kollekte. In addition to supervising the management, it is also responsible for approving the annual financial statements and determines the framework guidelines of the Klima-Kollekte, i.e. it also decides on the acceptance of new projects.

The shareholders of the Klima-Kollekte are Bread for the World, the German Caritas Association, the Protestant Church in Germany, the Swiss relief organization Fastenaktion, and the Research Institute of the Protestant Study Community (FEST), HORIZONT3000, the children's missionary organization 'Die Sternsinger', the Episcopal relief organization MISEREOR, Mission One World - Center for Partnership, Development and Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, the United Evangelical Mission, and the Center for Mission and Ecumenism - North Church Worldwide.

The shareholders meeting is advised by the expert committee, which is made up of members from the program departments of the shareholders. Scientific support is provided by the Research Institute of the Protestant Study Community  (FEST). The Klima-Kollekte is a "non-profit company with limited liability". Since its foundation in 2011, the Klima-Kollekte has been consistently recognized as a non-profit organization by the Heidelberg tax office and as such is entitled to issue so-called donation receipts (Zuwendungsbestätigung) for its donors.  

Within a gGmbH, no profit motives are pursued. The so-called profit is used entirely for charitable purposes, in our case for climate protection projects. It may never flow back to the shareholders, neither completely nor partially. The purpose of the Klima-Kollekte is selfless, direct and exclusive.

No, because the Klima-Kollekte takes the position that no one can become righteous before God through pious actions or the payment of money. For the Klima-Kollekte and its shareholders the grace and love of God are an encouragement to act responsibly before God and towards the fellow human beings and the co-creation. The Klima-Kollekte does not claim to be better before God and mankind. Nevertheless, for us compensation - after the steps of avoidance and reduction - is a step towards responsibility that is more Christian, the integrity of creation and more climate justice.  

The Klima-Kollekte supports acting in a climate-friendly way and thus preserving creation. Its partners are located in the church context and most of them have many years of experience in development cooperation. We use Climate protection contributions in a transparent and trustworthy manner - this is what Klima-Kollekte and its partner organizations stand for.  

At the beginning of 2018, Stiftung Warentest conducted an investigation into "Voluntary CO₂ compensation" at six providers and awarded the Klima-Kollekte a quality rating of "very good". The testers wanted to know what the offset providers were specifically doing for climate protection and how they were accountable for their actions. The quality of the offsetting projects was the relevant factor for the test rating. In order to measure this, the Stiftungs Warentest evaluated the certificates achieved by the projects. The best marks were awarded to certificates issued in accordance with the Gold Standard. In this respect, the Klima-Kollekte scored among the best, as it only works according to the particularly demanding Gold Standard.

The climate protection projects are assigned to the categories of renewable energies and energy efficiency. They are implemented by local partner organizations and developed together with the local population involved in countries of the global south.

They reduce local poverty by empowering women, protecting health and create perspectives - and also reduce CO₂ emissions thus protecting the climate. They also contribute to the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The projects are certified with the Gold Standard and partly also with the Fairtrade Climate Standard. Micro-projects with an annual CO₂ reduction of less than 5,000 t CO2 can be developed in line with the Gold Standard and adhere to its strict criteria. We also have these projects randomly audited by external experts.

You can find an overview here: https://klima-kollekte.de/en/projects

The Gold Standard Foundation a non-profit certification organization registered in Switzerland. The Gold Standard is a signet of approval for climate protection projects in developing countries. It was developed in 2003 by WWF and other environmental organizations and aims to ensure that projects not only benefit the climate, but also the people. Therefore, only projects that demonstrably lead to a reduction of greenhouse gases, being good for the local environment and social concerns of the population are certified. More information is available here: www.goldstandard.org/  

.

Reforestation does not guarantee that CO₂ will be saved permanently (permanence). Trees can be cut down, attacked by pests or burn down unplanned. As a result, the carbon stored in the trees escapes back into the air as CO₂ emissions, releasing the emissions that were originally emitted. In various cases, moreover, land rights are not always clarified in reforestation projects, so land grabbing can occur. Furthermore, the rights of the local population are not always sufficiently respected. When smallholders are resettled in forest protection projects, in parts of the forest outside the project boundaries, the problem of deforestation is only shifted.

The countries in the global north are responsible for climate change. However, it is still the people in the countries of the south who feel climate change and its consequences much more drastically than we do in the global north. Moreover, these people have little or no opportunity to change anything about it and are thus doubly at the mercy of climate change. Therefore, it is a question of justice if those who cause climate change contribute through the Klima-Kollekte in order to expand renewable energies in developing countries or to improve local livelihoods.

Due to the connection to the churches, the Klima-Kollekte uses partnership relations with the partner organizations in the global south and can thus enable projects on an equal footing and in partnership. This improves the living conditions of the affected people in the long term, especially where no state mechanisms for the supply of energy, health or education are effective.

The vast majority of the funds collected are used for project work and a small proportion for administration and public relations.

The price for offsetting one ton of CO₂ is calculated from the costs incurred in implementing the climate protection project and the verification or external confirmation of the emission reductions by the Gold Standard. The amount of the costs depends on the size of the project, the technology used and the country in which the project is implemented. The prices are also influenced by the trading of the certificates on the markets.

The Klima-Kollekte uses the CO₂ calculator from “KlimAktiv gemeinnützige Gesellschaft zur Förderung des Klimaschutzes mbH”, which was designed for the software and is responsible for its further development and the distribution of the tool.

The emission factors are based on the latest scientific findings. KlimAktiv gGmbH determined them in cooperation with the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg gGmbH (ifeu).

- The CO₂ calculator is based on emission factors that were determined according to the latest scientific findings. The non-profit organization KlimAktiv developed the factors in cooperation with the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg gGmbH (ifeu).

- KlimAktiv updates the emission factors annually.

- The Federal Environment Agency and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety have had the calculator developed and use it.

- In addition to CO₂, the CO₂ calculator takes into account all other greenhouse gases of the Kyoto Protocol adopted by the United Nations in 1997, such as methane and nitrous oxide. All relevant greenhouse gas emissions are converted into CO₂ equivalents.

- Many CO₂ calculators consider only or mainly mobility. Our calculator is able to calculate the emissions of many other areas of life: Electricity, heat energy, events, paper and print products, hotel accommodation and various areas of mobility such as travel by car, train or ferry.

The calculator of Klima-Kollekte gets its data from KlimAktiv. The non-profit GmbH calculates these using data from ifeu (Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Heidelberg), in particular according to the TREMOD (Transport Emission Model) developed there, GEMIS, Ecoinvent, IPCC.

•  KlimAktiv is a non-profit organization.
•  KlimAktiv is recommended by the Federal Environment Agency and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
• The provision of data is serious, transparent and comprehensible.
• The user fees are acceptable for us as a gGmbH and significantly lower than an in-house development would be. In addition, there are already some solid calculators, so we are happy to use of the good offer before yet another calculator is developed.

KlimAktiv checks the factors continuously. Once a year (at the beginning of the year) there is an update for all factors.

• Yes, it is important for Klima-Kollekte to be able to calculate emissions from other areas in addition to flying. Therefore, we also offer factors for the areas of energy, events (accommodation, catering), paper and print products,
• Emissions caused by transport (car, ferry, public transport, long-distance train) can be calculated,
• If you know the power requirements of your e-bike or e-scooter, the emissions can be calculated using our calculator in the Energy section,
• To calculate the emissions of a website, contact us.
• We can also try to determine other areas for you that are not listed in the CO₂ calculator. Please send us a request by email to Info (at) klima-kollekte.de

The Deutsche Bahn advertises that it is the most climate-friendly means of transport. In the ICE, passengers are even supposed to travel with zero emissions. But from our point of view zero emissions are not possible, because the construction of stations, the maintenance of trains and finally the disposal of rails, etc. need energy and also the journeys with Deutsche Bahn are not completely CO₂-free. Only about half of the electricity comes from renewable sources.

The same can be said about green electricity: Wherever green electricity is listed, it does not necessarily contain only green electricity. Our factor for certified green electricity should only be used to calculate the consumption of electricity providers with the Ok Power label or the Green Electricity label. All other electricity providers do not sufficiently fulfill these strict criteria, as they do not promote the energy transition, for example.

Yes, you can do this by clicking the "Calculate and compensate CO₂ emissions now" button at the bottom right of the website; a "Direct compensation" field will open - here you can enter and compensate a specific amount of money or a certain amount of CO₂ emissions. This option can also be found in the center of the homepage, highlighted in the circular element.

Try the English/German name of the place or search the Internet for the abbreviation of the airport (IAT).

If the destination or departure city couldn’t be found, we would be grateful if you let us know at info (at) klima-kollekte.de. We will then take care of adding the location to the calculator as soon as possible.

You can compensate online without creating a customer account or registering. Since we do not receive your data in this case, no invoice, grant confirmation or certificate can be created for you. This is also the case if you log into your customer account after the compensation. Payment via Paydirekt is not possible without login.

If you have forgotten your password, click on the "Forgot password" button located below the login field in the user login. In the next window, enter your e-mail address and click "Reset password". You will then receive an email with further instructions.

Yes, you can calculate emissions and save them for later compensation if you log in with a user account to do so. In your customer account you will find an overview list with your calculations. Here you can add more calculations at any time, combine multiple calculations into one total calculation and compensate.

You can pay your emissions either directly online or by bank transfer. Online payment is available by credit card, SEPA direct debit, PayPal and paydirekt.

If you would like to transfer the compensation contribution, you can create an invoice and transfer it later, stating the invoice number. After we have received your payment, you will receive an email from us stating that your documents (donation confirmation and climate protection certificate) are now available to you.

Yes. We are registered for the promotion of environmental protection, the promotion of international sentiments, tolerance in all areas of culture and the idea of international understanding, as well as the promotion of development cooperation according to the annex to the corporation tax assessment of the Heidelberg tax office.

You can download your donation receipt in your customer account. If you paid online, it is directly possible after the payment. If you have transferred the compensation contribution, you will receive an e-mail from us after receipt of payment with a reference to your donation confirmation and your certificate. It is important that you log into your customer account before the compensation.

In the form of a standing order, you can instruct a monthly offsetting payment to the Klima-Kollekte. The advantage is that the bank does not retain any fees for the transaction and thus the entire climate protection amount goes to us, without deduction of bank fees.

Our bank details at the Bank für Kirche und Diakonie eG are: IBAN: DE31 3506 0190 1014 3650 16, BIC: GENODED1DKD.

If you would like to receive a climate protection certificate as well as a donation receipt at the beginning of the new year for the total amount of the previous year, please still send us your address by email or in the comment field of the standing order."