The generation of CO2 certificates for private and business customers
You are a private or business customer or you are a company and want to generate CO2 certificates for sale?
We have compiled the following information for you.
The entire breadth of our business offers, our many years of successful and integrated activity in the CO2 market and our name Emissionshändler.com also lead, as experience has shown, to many interested parties from the private and non-emissions trading market contacting us. In particular, this concerns constant enquiries about the generation of CO2 certificates.
CO2 certificates for private, business and corporate customers
In advance and in principle it can be said that Emissionshändler.com as a trader in the field of voluntary and mandatory EU-ETS and nEHS emissions trading has nothing to do with the generation of CO2 certificates and does not offer any advice on this.
However, in order to save potential interested parties, such as private and corporate customers, time, effort and money by providing the information compiled here, we will briefly explain below why in 99.9% of cases it is not possible to profit from any form of certificate trading, with the exception of the sale of an annual CO2 quota for a fully electric vehicle in Germany, which is to be marketed by the owner of the vehicle.
However, if an investor wishes to invest in a climate protection project outside Europe and, because of the economic losses that can certainly be expected from the project, would like to generate CO2 certificates locally there as compensation, he can turn to corresponding international service providers such as South Pole or a certification company such as e.g. TÜV Nord, TÜV Süd, TÜV Rheinland.
Note as of 07.2023: The prices to be achieved for certificates are 0.5-1.5 euros/certificate, thus far below the ancillary project costs.
Why can private and business customers generally not obtain CO2 certificates?
Again and again, private and business customers ask themselves how they can obtain CO2 certificates through their business model and how these can then be turned into money.
Typical examples of these questions are:
- I have a new PV system on the roof of my house/company headquarters and save X - tonnes of CO2 annually as a result. Can I therefore participate in emissions trading and generate further money?
- My company wants to build solar fields. When, where and how can I get certificates for this?
- I own a forest that binds X tonnes of CO2 per year. Can I generate CO2 certificates for it and sell them?
- I put a fuel additive on the market that increases the efficiency of one litre of petrol and thus saves CO2. Can I sell CO2 certificates for this saving?
- I have invented a device or process that saves CO2 and now I want to get CO2 certificates.
The answer to all these and similar questions is: No, it is not possible.
The reason for this is that the generation of CO2 certificates in a project must fulfil the following principles and processes in order for certification of the savings methodology according to the Gold Standard or Verra to make sense in the first place:
1. additionality
2. permanence
3. calculation, monitoring and verification of emissions
4. transparency and rules and regulations
5. timing of issuance
6. avoidance of double counting
7. stakeholder engagement
8. sustainable development
In addition, in the vast majority of cases, a climate protection project with certificate funding is only possible outside of Europe. Further information can be obtained from the Federal Environment Agency in Berlin.
All of the above-mentioned enquiries from private and corporate clients or similar ideas fail almost 100% on point 1, additionality.
This requirement of additionality is only fulfilled if the climate protection project would not even exist without the revenues from voluntary emissions trading. If the economic viability of a project to save CO2 is already given without voluntary emissions trading - and this is generally always the case in the above-mentioned examples due to an intention to make a profit - it is not possible to generate additional revenue through certificate trading.
Or to put it even more clearly: It cannot and must not be the case that a private customer or company saves money, CO2 or energy and/or generates other financial income and is then also additionally rewarded by the issue of certificates!
Private customers and businesses can buy CO2 certificates
Private, business and corporate customers can still get CO2 certificates at Emissionshändler.com. However, they can only do so against payment, i.e. they can buy them for money.
If a private or business customer is interested in Emissionshändler.com's products and services or would like to buy EUA or nEZ or CER/VER allowances from us in particular, they are welcome to do so. However, a registry account in EUA trading or with the Gold Standard Organisation or VERRA must be available beforehand, otherwise Emissionshändler.com cannot transfer these certificates. Moreover, it must be clear to a private customer that he must also pay VAT.
Whether a private or business customer then saves the acquired certificates and/or speculates with them, i.e. sells them at a higher price or accepts losses up to a total loss, is then his decision. From an economic point of view, from Emissionshändler.com's point of view, such a special commitment is only worthwhile when a minimum volume of 100,000 euros can be reached anyway, especially because high initial expenses and ancillary costs are incurred.
The special feature of offsetting and climate neutrality should also be mentioned. This then means the purchase of certificates from climate protection projects and the cancellation of these by Emissionshändler.com. No registry account is needed for this, because Emissionshändler.com has the purchased VER and CER certificates deleted in its system and issues a nice climate certificate about them. This service is provided by the sister company Climate-Company.