Compensation
The offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions is a key element of Credit Suisse's strategy to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality globally by 2009. However, emissions reduction certificates must meet stringent quality criteria.
Credit Suisse's multi-level strategy to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality for all its operations globally sets out measures to reduce emissions including the improvement of operations and maintenance, the use of strict energy standards when constructing or renovating buildings for the bank's own use, and the purchase of a greater proportion of 'green' electricity. These steps will enable us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the area of operations over time. However, it will be necessary for us to purchase emission reduction certificates for the foreseeable future to achieve our goal of greenhouse gas neutrality. This means that the offsetting of emissions is currently a key requirement for the achievement of global greenhouse gas neutrality at Credit Suisse by 2009.
Offsetting through third-party projects
The idea is to offset the remaining emissions by purchasing certified emission reductions (CERs) and/or verified emission reductions (VERs) from third-party projects. The buyer of these reduction rights thus finances the costs of additional emission reductions that are achieved and securitized by the project owner. The purchase of these certificates means that they are also suspended via an auditable process.
Such emission reduction certificates are derived from different types of projects:
- Renewable energies: these are projects to finance renewable energy production from photovoltaic, wind, biomass, hydro, geothermal or tidal energy sources.
- Increase in energy efficiency: through technical or organizational measures, these projects increase energy efficiency among consumers (energetic redevelopments) or producers (e.g. energy cycle efficiency by combined heat and power plants).
- Carbon sinks: the idea is to capture greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and store the carbon in natural or artificial reservoirs. Examples are reforestation projects or the technical binding and encapsulation of these gases in carbon deposits.
Quality criteria for emissions reduction certificates
Credit Suisse requires the following quality criteria to be met by the projects:
- The certificates should be derived from projects that support a move to a low carbon industrialized economy (e.g. biomass to energy, biogas to energy, solar, wind, small hydro, energy efficiency, fuel switch). Therefore projects from carbon sinks or sequestration (e.g. forestry) are not a priority. If considered, they should have a small share of the portfolio and meet the highest quality standards (e.g. CCBA Standard).
- The additionality and credibility of each single project is mandatory. The provider is asked to explain the additionality standards applied and the reasons therefore.
- Projects investing in premature technologies should be avoided. In the case of innovative technologies in the pilot stage, the supplier must provide evidence for the robustness of the emission reduction.
- Projects should not be located in countries with an unstable political environment, vague regulatory and / or legal framework, unstable economies or a bad track record.
- Collaborations with project participants (e.g. project developer) with a lack of relevant experience should be avoided.
- All projects must be validated, verified and monitored by a UN accredited third party.
- All certificates have to be suspended in an independent register or via an equivalent independent process.
Compensation period 2006-2008
For the project period 2006-2008 the Public Policy – Sustainability Affairs and Environmental Management areas have jointly developed a system to purchase the necessary emissions reduction rights. Their cooperation with First Climate Group – a renowned supplier of climate-neutral services – is part of this process. We work exclusively with best-in-class external providers with proven expertise and thus ensure that we only purchase certificates that are known to originate from high-quality offsetting initiatives.
Credit Suisse compiled the following portfolio of projects for emissions reductions for the period 2006-2008:
| Greenhouse Gas Reductions Certificates - Types of project |
|---|
 |
| Greenhouse Gas Reductions Certificates - Country Distribution |
 |
External partner coordinates offsetting of emissions
Our external provider offers a comprehensive service comprising the acquisition, management and suspension of emissions reduction rights for Credit Suisse. For the period 2006-2008, we have purchased certificates for the equivalent of 243,000 metric tons of CO2 to offset the greenhouse gases from operations and flights that cannot be compensated for using other means such as optimizing energy efficiency or switching to electricity produced from renewable resources.
Approximate costs of offsetting:
- CHF 35 in total per employee per year or
- CHF 0.6 per m² of office space and
- CHF 3 per hour flown
As part of the efforts being implemented to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality for our worldwide operations by 2009, Credit Suisse will issue a global tender for the procurement of certificates in 2008.
Travel Service issues climate tickets
Since 2006, all plane tickets issued by our Travel Service for flights from Switzerland have taken the form of greenhouse gas neutral 'climate tickets'. We currently use the RFI (Radiative Forcing Index) conversion rate of 1.0 to offset emissions from air travel. We are also willing to consider other solutions, such as climate tickets that are offered directly by airline companies.
In addition, client and public events can be made greenhouse gas neutral by using the available infrastructure and offsetting the participants' journeys.
