First Climate is one of Europe’s leading carbon asset management companies. With offices on five continents and more than ten years’ experience in the market, it is one of the few intermediaries to cover the entire carbon credit value chain. Its customers include corporate clients, international organizations, and trading platform providers.
The Carbon Asset Development team generates high-quality carbon credits by identifying, developing, and implementing sustainable emission reduction projects, mainly in developing countries and emerging markets. Project owners profit from First Climate’s assistance with the validation, verification, and registration of projects in the voluntary and the compliance markets. Through debt financing or equity, the Project Finance department secures funding for projects and related transaction costs, either through dedicated funds or partner institutions. First Climate also has expertise in developing pioneering methodologies to allow new project types to qualify for carbon credits.
First Climate is investment advisor to various carbon funds including the Post 2012 Carbon Credit Fund established by the European Investment Bank and four other leading European public financing institutions. This fund supports a market in future emission reductions even before an international agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol has been negotiated.
For companies regulated under the EU ETS and other emission trading schemes, First Climate’s Sales & Trading team provides advisory services on corporate sales and trading strategies and investment opportunities, taking into account upcoming policy and legislative changes. It offers customized trading products like CER/EUA and ERU/EUA swaps.
In the voluntary market, First Climate supports companies that wish to integrate climate protection into their corporate social responsibility strategy. The Climate Neutral department calculates their corporate carbon footprint and offsets unavoidable emissions by retiring carbon credits irrevocably from the market on their behalf. All projects supported by First Climate meet the highest internationally recognized standards, e.g. the Gold Standard, the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), VER+, Social Carbon, or the Climate, Community, & Biodiversity Standards (CCBS). First Climate collaborates closely with independent verifiers like TüV SüD, SGS, and DNV, and is one of the main sponsors of the Gold Standard Version 2.