Learn how you can compensate for your impact with carbon credits

Explore how you can make a positive difference with carbon credits, also known as carbon units. Download our brochure now and learn about the power of DGB's ready-to-buy carbon credits and how working with DGB can help you compensate for your carbon footprint.

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EN Carbon Units

Now is the time to create a meaningful environmental and business impact

3-step guide to becoming sustainable

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Calculate your carbon emissions

For both small and large businesses, calculating your carbon footprint is the first step to understanding and reducing your business' environmental impact. Use DGB's easy-to-use Carbon Calculator to start identifying your footprint.
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Compensate for and reduce your emissions

We will help you create a reduction roadmap and identify risks and opportunities. You can invest in nature and become sustainable through our high-quality carbon credits from projects that meet leading international verification standards.
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Showcase and report on positive impact

After reducing and compensating for your business' carbon footprint, we enter the reporting process. We help you demonstrate and report on your environmental actions and investment in nature to engage your teams, customers, and stakeholders.

Why become sustainable?

Becoming a carbon neutral business

Successful companies recognise that becoming sustainable is crucial to long-term success. Take the opportunity to become carbon neutral, contribute to nature, and reap the rewards of increased revenue, reduced costs, stakeholder engagement, and reduced risk. At DGB, we provide carbon reduction and compensation solutions to organisations worldwide, supporting a wide range of clients from every type of business to governments. In addition, our 'Integrate trees into your business' programme helps businesses invest in nature on behalf of their clients and employees with unique tree planting services.

Increase your income while reducing costs

Measure your business' high-emission activities and encourage your employees to create new products and services that align with your goals.

Engage your stakeholders and reduce risks

Carbon-neutral services allow you to attract customers, engage stakeholders and reduce your potential future carbon tax risk.

High-quality carbon credits

Verified Emission Reductions

DGB’s carbon and biodiversity credits are validated and verified by third-party verification bodies using leading standards such as the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) or the Gold Standard. Each Verified Emission Reduction (VER) represents one metric tonne of additional, permanent, and otherwise unclaimed CO2 emission reductions or removals, creating a positive environmental and social impact.

We’re here to help you accelerate
your sustainability journey to being 100% carbon neutral

How can you use carbon credits for your business?

"DGB Group is dedicated to guiding companies through the complex landscape of carbon credits. By assessing carbon footprints, developing reduction strategies, identifying offset opportunities, and managing the procurement process, we enable businesses to take meaningful action in addressing climate change. Together, we can create a more sustainable future while advancing corporate environmental responsibility. Our commitment extends beyond transactional processes. We actively engage with our clients to raise awareness about the significance of carbon credits, the importance of carbon reduction, and the benefits of sustainable business practices."

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Selwyn Duijvestijn
Chief Executive Officer

"We offer businesses the opportunity to effectively utilise carbon credits as a tool to offset their greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to global emissions reductions and sustainability goals. Through our comprehensive services, we help companies assess their carbon footprint, develop tailored reduction strategies, identify high-quality carbon offset projects, manage the procurement process, offset residual emissions, and provide transparent monitoring and reporting. By partnering with us, businesses can integrate carbon credits seamlessly into their sustainability initiatives, demonstrate environmental leadership, and make a tangible positive impact."

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Thomas Donia
Director of Operations

Our global projects

31.2+

million trees being planted

250,000+

hectares scouted to be restored

38.2+

million tonnes of CO₂ to be captured

600+

jobs being created

150,000

efficient cookstoves to be distributed

Social and financial investments

How do projects get verified?

As the largest Dutch project developer of nature-based solutions, DGB offers attractive long-term returns through a combination of our extensive expertise and the robust underlying characteristics of our assets. Our premium-quality nature-based projects are all independently verified. 

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Pre-feasibility & feasibility studies

In this phase, we assess a potential carbon project's feasibility by analysing its environmental impact, community needs, and financial viability.

2

Project design & validation

We create a detailed project blueprint with carbon reduction/sequestration strategies and goals + validate it against established carbon standards.

3

Project development & certification

This phase implements and monitors the project, then obtains certification to ensure it meets carbon reduction and sustainability standards.

4

Under management

After the first credit issuance, We monitor and adjust the project to maintain its sustainability and carbon reduction objectives throughout its lifetime.

What is carbon compensation?

Carbon compensation is key to addressing your carbon footprint. Purchasing carbon credits is a way for businesses to address emissions they are unable to eliminate. Carbon credits are tradable, certified emissions units representing quantities of carbon emissions that have been avoided or removed through carbon projects.
 
Carbon credits/carbon units are vital to the business sustainability toolkit and are an essential solution to restoring nature.

Brochure Index

Explaining carbon units
Supply and demand for carbon units
How to compensate in 3 steps
The impact of carbon units
What you will receive
Verified and certified units
How do carbon markets work?

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Frequently asked questions

What are carbon units?

Carbon units, also known as carbon credits, are tradable certificates that represent the reduction or removal of 1 metric tonne of carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere through carbon projects. These units can be bought and sold on various markets, allowing companies and individuals to compensate for their carbon emissions and reduce their carbon footprints.

How do DGB’s nature-restoration projects generate carbon units?

Nature-restoration projects, such as reforestation, afforestation, agroforestry, and improved soil management, capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Our energy-efficient cookstove projects on the other hand reduce the amount of carbon emissions emitted from traditional cooking methods and deforestation for firewood purposes. The amount of carbon sequestered or avoided by these projects can be quantified and certified as carbon units.

How does DGB ensure the integrity of carbon units?

We ensure integrity through rigorous third-party verification and certification processes, regular monitoring and reporting of the project's impact, and adherence to high standards that assess and ensure additionality, permanence, and avoidance of leakage (where reducing emissions in one area causes an increase in another).

What standards does DGB use to verify carbon units from nature-restoration projects?

Our nature-based carbon projects are verified by leading standards such as the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) by Verra and the Gold Standard. These standards ensure that the carbon savings are real, measurable, permanent, and additional (ie, they would not have occurred without the project).

What is the difference between compliance and voluntary carbon markets?

Compliance markets are regulatory schemes where companies or countries are mandated by law to reduce their emissions. They may use carbon units to meet part of their obligations and therefore trade in carbon allowances. 

The voluntary carbon market, also known as the verified carbon market, on the other hand, consists of entities voluntarily purchasing carbon units to meet sustainability targets and compensate for their emissions. DGB operates in the voluntary carbon market, providing verified carbon units to companies that want to address their carbon footprints. 

What are the beyond-carbon benefits of DGB’s projects?

Besides carbon sequestration and reduction, our projects provide numerous social and environmental co-benefits. These benefits include job creation and education in local communities, additional revenue streams for local farmers, biodiversity conservation, habitat restoration, improved water quality, and enhanced resilience to climate impacts such as floods and droughts.

How do nature-restoration projects affect local communities?

Our projects have a positive impact on local communities. They provide economic opportunities and ecosystem services. We actively engage and work with local communities in planning and decision-making processes to maximise community benefits like job creation, training, educational funds, and additional income streams. 

Are there risks associated with investing in carbon units from nature-restoration projects?

Yes, risks include the potential failure of projects due to ecological or socio-economic factors.

To mitigate these risks, all our projects are strategically designed to maximise resilience and minimise the risk of failure. For instance, we implement fire breaks to guard against fires, plant biodiverse native tree species to create forests resilient to diseases, and work closely with local communities to protect the projects from illegal logging. These measures are critical in safeguarding the success of our projects.

Additionally, our projects are certified by third-party standards, like the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). VCS employs a mechanism known as a 'buffer pool.' Each project is required to allocate a certain percentage of its carbon units to this buffer pool, based on the assessed risk level of the project. For example, our reforestation project in Kenya needs to set aside 10% of its total carbon units into the buffer pool. This allocation means the project developer cannot sell these reserved units, as they are allocated to the buffer pool.

This buffer pool serves as a safety net for all carbon projects under this certification. Should any project fail, the buffer pool ensures that the committed carbon sequestration still occurs. This system provides an added layer of reliability and assurance to our partners and stakeholders.

What is the cost of a carbon unit?

Depending on the project and volume, prices range between €15–€40 per tonne of CO2 (ex VAT). It’s important to note that carbon prices in the market vary based on various factors, such as location, verification, quality, and co-benefits. DGB’s carbon units are highly valued as they are generated by high-quality, verified projects that deliver many co-benefits.

Do I first need to reduce before starting to compensate?

Reducing emissions and compensating for the remainder go hand in hand as complementary strategies to minimise negative environmental impacts and maximise positive contributions towards sustainability. But the one does not need to precede the other.

Internal reductions are a critical component of your sustainability strategy. This involves optimising production processes, improving energy efficiency, and adopting cleaner technologies. However, it's often challenging to reduce emissions to zero due to technical and economic limitations. This is where compensation, typically through carbon units or investing in nature-restoration projects, becomes crucial.

Compensation allows individuals and organisations to compensate for unavoidable or past emissions by supporting projects that reduce or capture emissions elsewhere. This dual approach not only helps mitigate your total carbon footprint but also supports broader environmental and social goals, such as biodiversity conservation, community development, and resilience to climate impacts. By actively reducing and compensating for emissions, stakeholders can demonstrate a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability, thereby enhancing their reputation and fulfilling their social responsibilities. Together, these actions create a comprehensive strategy for addressing environmental degradation and contributing positively to our planet's health and future.

Is it mandatory to report on my carbon emissions?

As of now, reporting carbon emissions is mandatory for certain large companies in the EU, and the scope of this requirement is set to expand significantly. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will require all large EU companies to provide detailed reports on their carbon emissions among other environmental impacts. This directive applies to large companies that meet specific criteria regarding their size, turnover, and employee numbers.

While it is not yet mandatory for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to report their emissions, the environment is changing. Large companies, under the CSRD, may start requiring their suppliers and partners in the value chain to report their emissions as well. This means that increasingly, more companies, regardless of size, will need to start reporting on their carbon emissions to maintain business relationships with larger firms. Considerations like Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria are also becoming more key for all stakeholders. 

Starting early with carbon reporting can be beneficial. Early adoption allows your company more time to develop efficient processes for data collection, establish baselines, and implement improvements in environmental performance. It also positions your company as a responsible and forward-thinking partner, ready to meet upcoming regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations. Thus, even if not yet mandatory for your business, beginning the process of reporting and addressing carbon emissions can provide strategic advantages and help smooth the transition as regulations evolve.

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Discover the power of carbon credits and pave the way for a brighter future for our planet's natural resources. Invest in the preservation of our ecosystem today.