Federal Government offsets all of its greenhouse gas emissions from official travel | Umweltbundesamt

The official trips taken by the German Federal Government (ministries and higher federal authorities) every year produce unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions. In early 2015 the Federal Government agreed to offset the climate change impact of all the official trips taken by its employees as of the start of the current legislative term. The objective of the present acquisition is to offset 138,038 tonnes of emissions caused by government car trips and air travel through climate protection projects in emerging and developing countries. Rail travel journeys taken by federal government employees have been CO₂-neutral for some time. The federal government has been buying “Grüne Fahrkarten” (green tickets) since 2010 to achieve this.

Official travel is offset with emissions credits from the CDM under the Kyoto Protocol. It allows industrial states to engage in joint projects with developing and emerging countries to protect the climate outside their own country. CDM projects generate credits for avoided emissions e.g. through the use of renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, or for energy efficiency measures.

The volume of emissions was calculated on the basis of official travel statistics from 2013. UBA collected all the data on air travel and the fuel consumption of official cars and developed its own method to calculate greenhouse gas emissions.

The acquisition of credits is also aimed at promoting reform of CDM, for example by granting preference to climate protection projects with proven sustainability. UBA reviews projects for compliance with quality standards.