At Atmosfair they feel the Greta effect: in the cash register. Germany's leading supplier of climate compensation will receive more money in 2019 than ever before. Already before the Christmas and year-end business lies in the compensation payments on the previous year's revenue of 9.75 million euros, said an Atmosfair spokeswoman for the news agency dpa. And the competition also reports record income. At myclimate, almost four times more CO2 was made up in the first half of the year than on the climate calculator on the website in 2018. And at Primaklima in Bergisch Gladbach, yields have skyrocketed by around 150 percent.
These are huge steps for the providers. These payments help only marginally to the world climate. They are far too low for that. 23 euros per ton of carbon dioxide pay end customers at Atmosfair. Adding this to the total revenues of the provider, the customers of the market leader compensated for less than 450,000 tonnes of CO2. However, the air traffic emanating from Germany causes about 70 times as much CO2: more than 31 million tons.
At most, a low single-digit percentage of Germans will offset its own greenhouse gas emissions. Despite Greta, despite the "Fridays for Future" protests, despite the bad conscience that more and more people are flying at.
"There are two fundamental obstacles to compensating over these portals," says Jakob Graichen, the climate protection expert at the Öko-Institut. "First of all, it's not comfortable: you just have to click through those CO2 calculators and second, it's relatively expensive."
Between 15 and 23 euros per compensated ton of CO2 demand most reputable providers. For example, an economy flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok and back with Lufthansa at Atmosfair costs 104 euros - in addition to the normal fare, mind you. A lot of money for a less guilty conscience.
Moreover, not all passengers know what the payments are used for - and whether they actually help to reduce emissions. Or whether they are just a meaningless "indulgence" as critics like to spread.
Suppliers fight against charges of indulgence
In principle, all compensation providers have a similar approach: they provide CO2 calculators that allow customers to calculate their greenhouse gas emissions first - and then transfer money accordingly.
Suppliers are financing climate-friendly projects elsewhere in the world with the money provided. These should then save as much emissions as customers have previously caused by their flights, cruises, heating or their meat consumption.
Larger providers often raise such projects themselves, mostly in emerging and developing countries. This includes, of course, the development of renewable energy sources such as small biogas plants. But also measures to save energy such as cookers that consume less firewood. Or the reforestation of forests that bind CO2. In all cases greenhouse gas is saved. Compensation is therefore not an indulgence, argues a spokesman for the provider myclimate: "It really happens with the money something." The emissions sink measurably. "
But how much do they really sink? And: Would not the biogas plant in Nepal or the hydropower plant in India be built anyway?
Prevent misuse seals of quality for climate protection projects. Perhaps the best known is the so-called Gold Standard. It will only be awarded to projects that demonstrably only reduce greenhouse gases while also benefiting the local environment and local people. Independent inspectors, such as the conservation organization WWF, regularly review these projects. And: Reputable compensation providers provide transparency reports in detail about their projects and the exact use of funds.
Lufthansa expects the compensation cheap
Nevertheless, the business remains nebulous. This already starts with the fact that the different CO2 calculators of the providers spit out very different results.
For example, for the Lufthansa flight Frankfurt-Bangkok and back, Atmosfair calculates an average climate impact of 4.5 tonnes. Myclimate, however, comes to 2.9 tonnes for the same distance. And the calculator operated by myclimate on the Lufthansa website indicates only 1.2 tons. For Germany's leading airline, it only costs 24 euros to ease his conscience - not even a quarter of the price of Atmosfair.
The dramatic deviations are the result of different calculation methods. Thus, the Lufthansa calculator only takes into account the pure CO2 emissions of the jets. In fact, the climate impact of aviation goes far beyond CO2 emissions. Water vapor, nitrogen oxides and other fumes have significant effects on the climate, especially at high altitudes. Scientific studies show that the overall climate impact of aviation is at least twice, possibly even three times higher than the pure CO2 effect. The IPCC recommends multiplying the CO2 emissions of longer flights by a factor of 2.7.
Atmosfair even calculates with a factor of three, myclimate with two. Lufthansa waives any multiplier - and can offer so much cheaper.
It is scientifically disputed, how big the exact climate effect away from CO2 was, justifies CEO Carsten Spohr this procedure. However, it is scientifically not controversial that the climate impact of the other exhaust gases is significant. "Anyone who prefers the remaining residual uncertainties today, obviously wants to avoid consequences," says Christoph Balz, the political director of the environmental organization Germanwatch.
The compensation market is currently being jumbled up: by the Lufthansa competitor Easyjet. The British low-cost airline has caused a sensation with its promise to compensate for the future CO2 emissions of all their flights even through climate protection projects.
Compensation-willing passengers would no longer have to calculate their own emissions and pay for it. However, Easyjet also fades out the climate impact of exhaust gases beyond CO2. The planned expenses are correspondingly low: only about € 0.30 per transported customer.
"The Easyjet approach is after all better than what other airlines do - but not what they really need," says Jakob Graichen from the Öko-Institut. Also in the future, it is unlikely that crowds of passengers will voluntarily neutralize their climate damage, says the expert. "Politicians have to set the right course here, for example through an EU-wide kerosene tax." However, that would be many times more expensive than the CO2 compensation of Easyjet - for the airlines and their passengers.