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As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, Switzerland has undertaken to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The country intends to reduce up to 12.5 percent of its emissions by financing climate protection projects abroad. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement provides for countries to cooperate for the purpose of raising their emission mitigation targets.
With the Implementation Agreement that was signed today by the ministers representing the two countries, Peru and Switzerland have established the legal framework for the concrete implementation of such cooperative activity. This is the first international agreement of its kind that governs the recognition and crediting of transferred emissions reductions.
The Agreement ensures that the transferred emissions reductions meet the requirements of both the Paris Convention and the national legal provisions of both countries. Both contracting parties undertake to employ robust methods to prevent double counting of the emissions reductions achieved. In addition, the Agreement establishes the minimum requirements with regard to environmental integrity and the promotion of sustainable development as well as the monitoring and verification of the emissions-reducing activities.
The KliK Foundation acquires emissions reductions for Switzerland abroad
The CO₂ law binds the KliK Foundation to the procurement of foreign emission reductions to an estimated 35 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in the period up to 2030. The Agreement between Peru and Switzerland thus establishes the first legal framework for the fulfilment of this legal mandate governing the financing of corresponding climate protection projects authorised by both countries.
A number of other countries are currently in negotiations with Switzerland regarding similarly structured implementation agreements. The KliK Foundation anticipates that several such agreements will follow in the next two years. Together with the EU's CO₂ Regulation due to be revised as of 1 January 2022, these form the legal foundation and prerequisite for the procurement of the necessary foreign emission reductions.
Previous activities of the KliK Foundation
The KliK Foundation began the procurement process back in 2019 and since then it has been steadily building up a portfolio of candidates for climate protection activities abroad. In the meantime 165 private partner organisations have registered, from which a total of 60 proposals have so far been received. Currently, seven of these are being developed in greater detail with financial support from the KliK Foundation. A further 25 proposals have been approved in principle which must first comply with certain requirements that have been formulated by the KliK Foundation.
In order to present their complex assignment and the procurement process in an easy-to-understand form, the KliK Foundation has formulated several new communication tools. These include an explanatory video and a series of live webcasts, in which the activities of the Foundation are explained, as well as a newsletter that has been created expressly for Peru and will provide regular reports about the activities of the Foundation there.
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