What happens with the climate compensation money

If you place an order on Digitec Galaxus, you now have the chance to make a voluntary contribution to climate protection and make up for the carbon footprint left by their online purchase. Buying a sofa, laptop or coffee machine? Whatever you’re shopping for, we use a proven model to calculate the carbon emissions caused by the extraction of raw materials, production and delivery of your online purchases. To compensate for these carbon emissions, you have the chance to purchase so-called CO2 certificates (also referred to as carbon credits) and thereby invest in climate protection projects.

The crucial question is, of course, what happens with the compensation funds and how effectively is your money used? Before talking about the climate protection projects we’re supporting, we’d like to address the following concern: does it make sense for Swiss customers to purchase their carbon credits from projects in Africa and Asia rather than from domestic projects? No doubt, in view of sustainable development and maximum «return» – in this case, how many kilogrammes of carbon are compensated for each franc. Our model indicates other greenhouse gas emissions such as methane, nitrous oxide or fluorocarbons equivalently in tons of CO2.

Making the most of every compensation funds

Without question, supporting domestic subsidy programmes, for example developing intelligent apps that control solar systems on urban buildings, makes perfect sense. Renaturing alpine upland moors to bind carbon and promote biodiversity is also a great way to invest money.

But if you want to drive climate protection where the potential is the greatest, Africa or Asia are your places to go. This has several positive effects: investing in forest protection ensures that rainforests aren’t slashed an burned – in other words, that the lungs of our planet are preserved. Other projects support sustainable land use or help push the breakthrough of renewable energies where fossil fuels are still the main source of energy. This helps the environment as well as the local population, as each of the offered projects is aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and promotes education, health or the creation of jobs.

The carbon compensation funds from online purchases on Digitec Galaxus go towards the following climate protection projects:

Forest conservation and community: 

• Miro Sierra Leone
• EcoFiltro
• Alto Huayabamba Forest Conservation    

Renewable energy / Energy efficiency

• Sistema Biogas Project
• Mahindra Solar

All projects are certified according to internationally recognised standards and meet the criterion of additionality. This means, these climate protection projects are only implemented once the project-specific CO2 certificates are purchased. We’ve partnered with South Pole to ensure that the calculated emission reduction is met and that the funds go exactly where we want them to. Every project is also reviewed by independent auditors. For more information, please consult South Pole’s project development standards.