Where the money for climate protection goes

When you place an order on Digitec Galaxus, you can make a voluntary contribution to climate protection. 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 somewhat counteract these carbon emissions, you have the option to purchase so-called climate certificates (also referred to as carbon credits) and thereby invest in climate protection projects.

The crucial question is, of course, where do these contributions go 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 carbon credits that go towards projects in Africa and Asia rather than from domestic projects? In view of sustainable development and maximum «return», meaning how many kilogrammes of CO₂ are compensated for each franc, the answer is absolutely. Other greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, nitrous oxide or fluorocarbons are also accounted for in our model, in CO₂ tons.

Making the most of every franc

Without question, supporting domestic funding programmes also makes sense. For example, developing intelligent apps that control solar systems on urban buildings. Renaturing alpine upland moors to sink 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 the places to focus on. This has several positive effects: investing in forest protection ensures that rainforests aren’t slashed and 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 in places 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.

If you choose to make a climate compensation for your online purchases on Digitec Galaxus, your money will go towards the following climate protection projects:

Forest conservation and community: 

• Sustainable Timber Plantations Sierra Leone
• Sustainable Timber Plantations Ghana
• Serra do Amolar Pantanal Protection - Brazil
• Improved Stoves and Clean Water Project - Guatemala
• Clean cookstoves Kenya  

Renewable energy / Energy efficiency

• Sah Wind Power

All projects are certified according to internationally recognised standards and meet the criterion of additionality. To put it in simpler terms: these climate protection projects rely on the financial help from certificates in order to be implemented. 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.