FAQ

Questions about the
Climate Bet

What is the Climate Bet?

Attention: "Is" became "was". The Climate Bet 2021 is over. But maybe you want to know that the climate bet was? Then you can find the answers here.

The Climate Bet is a participatory and motivational campaign. It encourages effective climate protection and aims to draw attention to the extremely important UN climate conference, COP26, which begins on 1 November 2021 in Glasgow. The climate protection goals of the states must be urgently improved, so that the Paris agreement can still be reached and the climate crisis can be contained. If the countries were to increase their targets by about one tonne of CO2 per citizen per year, we would finally be on the politically agreed 1.5-degree path. With the climate bet we draw attention to this target and show how everyone can make an important contribution. For more information, watch our campaign video (with english subtitles).

 

Answers 

Here you can find answers to your questions about the climate bet, the climate protection projects and the donation process. If you couldn't find an answer to your question, please write us a mail: wirmachen@dieklimawette.de.

How can I join the Climate Bet?

  • Donate 1 ton of CO2: Go to www.dieklimawette.de/en/participate, enter how many tons of CO2 you would like to donate and select one or more projects to which your donation should go.

  • Spread the word about the bet: After your participation, you will receive a confirmation email in which you will receive a personal link. This link looks like this www.dieklimawette.de/1H.... Send this link to your friends and acquaintances. As soon as you have won more than 2 allies, you will appear with your game card in our CO2-Battle. 

  • Save CO2 personally: Living greener and more sustainably is not difficult! Our quick tips show you how easy it is to flip the green switch in just 30 minutes and reduce your personal carbon footprint. 

  • Take part in our challenges: Every month there is a new challenge. Under 'News & Challenges' you can find inspiring challenges from our bloggers Anna and Santa. 

  • Take the Climate Bet to your own city: If your region or city is not yet listed in our city ranking - change it! Spread the word, talk to organisations, local groups or climate protection managers in your town.

What happens with the donations?

With the Climate Bet, we not only advertise for better climate protection, but also collect donations for very specific carbon offset projects with which we can save at least 1 tonn of CO2 for every 25 euros donated. Every month, at least 90% of the donations are transferred to our non-profit partners atmosfair, Compensators*, Fairventures Worldwide, Klima-Kollekte, myclimate and PRIMAKLIMA, who implement the carbon offset projects. All transfers are listed on the transparency page. We need the remaining donations to finance the climate bet itself and the payment fees.

How did the price of €25 per ton of CO2 come about?

Climate Bet donations close funding gaps for climate protection projects that save tons of CO2 and would not be carried out without the donations. Paraffin lamps, for example, are cheaper than solar lamps. Through the donations, the solar lamps can be made cheaper so that they are cheaper than paraffin lamps. These funding gaps vary in size, as the projects themselves also vary widely (from reforestation to solar panels to efficient cooking stoves). One exception is emission certificates from the European Emissions Trading Scheme. Here, it is not a question of a financing gap, but of the entire price. The price of €25 is therefore an average value of the projects we have selected, so that on average we can actually guarantee 1 ton of CO2 avoidance per €25 donation.

Shouldn't one ton of CO2 be much more expensive, or cost €180?

  • When it comes to the price of CO2, a distinction must be made between "damage costs" and "avoidance costs". With our donations for the climate protection projects, we avoid CO2 so that no damage occurs in the first place. These avoidance costs depend on the type of project and can even be positive. If I don't fly on holiday, I not only save a lot of CO2, but also money. In other cases, however, such as the rewetting of peatlands or the use of vegetable carbon, they are well over €25 per ton.

  • The damage costs, on the other hand, arise in the long term if the CO2 remains in the atmosphere for decades and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods become more frequent as a result. The German Federal Environmental Agency has calculated damage costs of around €180 per ton for 2016 and as much as €190 per ton for 2020. These costs will be due in the coming decades for every additional ton of CO2 that we "dump" into the atmosphere.

How can I support the Climate Bet?

  • The Climate Bet lives from spreading the word: take part in the CO2-Battle and win more participants.

  • Make the Climate Bet known locally: Order posters from us and hang them up in shops, for example (currently only in German). If you are interested to have an english one, feel free to contact us!

  • You want to do more? Great, then get in touch with us and let's talk about it!

 

How were the climate protection projects selected? 

  • Our climate protection projects must meet high social and ecological standards.

  • They were selected together with our advisory board and are implemented exclusively by non-profit organisations.

  • We would like our projects to represent as wide a variety as possible: Renewable energies such as solar energy and biogas, different types of reforestation projects, energy efficiency projects as well as emission certificates. In this way, everyone can decide for himself or herself which type of project he or she likes best.

Why are there so few donation projects from Europe?

  • Since many climate protection projects in Germany and Europe are (could be) state-funded, it is not at all easy to find projects that cannot be carried out without the donation (keyword "additionality") and which, on the other hand, are not too expensive. Compared to projects in emerging and developing countries, such additional projects in Europe are much more expensive, which is why significantly less CO2 would be saved with the same amount of money.

Can I donate more than once or place several climate pins (e.g. for my children)?

Of course, you can donate several times or for several people. There are three ways to do this:

  • Use a different email address for each donation. Then each climate pin is "autonomous" and can be freely moved and designed. The only thing that has to be "unique" is the e-mail address because of the display on the map. Your donor data for the donation receipt, on the other hand, can be repeated. Our recommendation!

  • If you only have or want to use one e-mail address, you must log in to your profile to donate several times and then click on "donate again". Each donation will then also receive a new climate pin. However, these climate pins are all linked to the first climate pin and cannot be designed differently. This is therefore not so suitable for giving as a gift.

  • From 4 people or 4 tons of CO2, you can also set a group pin when donating. In this case, there is only one pin on the card. But this pin gets a star for better visibility and counts each ton as one participant. A great thing for families, companies or groups! 

How can I make a gift of a "climate pin"?

Donate with an email address not yet used for the climate bet for the next ton of CO2 (see also the previous question "donate several times").

Personalise the new climate pin for the recipient, e.g. with a nice photo and a saying.

fill in the appropriate fields and give it as a gift.