SENS International : CLIMATE PROTECTION BY RECYCLING

All climate protection projects promoted by SENS International have to fulfil the high requirements stipulated in the «Swiss Charter – Climate Protection by Recycling». According to the Swiss Charter the achieved greenhouse gas emission reductions must be permanent and measurable in real terms. The measuring procedures are examined by independent Designated Operational Entities (DOEs) on the basis of the Swiss Charter and the emission reductions are verified. They must be determined fully using precise and consistent methods as well as calculated conservatively. The emission reduction certificates named Swiss Charter Units are only issued once emission reductions have actually occurred and have been verified.

The Swiss Charter therefore represents one of the most demanding of standards in the market for emission reduction certificates. It conforms to the main idea of the Clean Development Mechanism and draws on the standards of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), but in terms of its demands for sustainable development goes one step further: the projects must trigger at least two impetuses in the ecological, social, economic and technological field.

Ecological development impetuses:
Conservation of resources
Energy efficiency
Careful handling of toxic waste
Promotion of biodiversity
Protection of the ozone layer

Social development impetuses:
Improvement in working conditions
Creation of sustainable employment
Know-how transfer
Capacity formation

Economic and technological development impetuses:
Multiplicative effects
Contribution to recycling management
Technology transfer

The Swiss Charter combines these high demands on project-based development impetuses with a rigorous technical and methodological quality assurance. Core components of this quality assurance are

• double validation of the methodology for measuring emission reductions carried out by accredited, independent institutions,

• ongoing project validation and verification by accredited, independent institutions, which in addition to greenhouse gas emissions also includes development impetuses, which have to be recorded in quantitative terms,

• the pursuit of the concept of «natural additionality»,

• the processing of certificate trade through a registry, which prevents multiple sales of emission reduction certificates,

• the issue of certificates without exception only once emission reductions have actually taken place.        

So that SENS International embeds all climate protection projects into the Swiss Charter, the foundation guarantees first-class climate protection certificates under the SCPI label with the main idea being a «Premium Project for Premium Partners».