atmosfair

Founded in 2004, atmosfair is a non-governmental organisation based in Berlin, Germany working on environment & climate, international development.

atmosfair gGmbH is a Berlin-based non-profit climate protection organisation founded in 2004 from a research project of the German Federal Environment Ministry and an initiative of the travel industry association forum anders reisen and Germanwatch. Its core activity is enabling people and organisations to compensate unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from air travel, by funding climate protection projects in the global South. These projects expand renewable energy and energy-efficiency technologies such as efficient cookstoves, solar systems, biogas and small hydropower, which also bring first-time access to clean, reliable energy for local communities. atmosfair applies its own atmosfair standards and registers projects under UNFCCC and Gold Standard. The organisation also advises companies and institutions on decarbonisation and business travel emissions, and publishes the atmosfair Airline Index, which ranks airlines by climate efficiency. Its funding comes from donations and income from its commercial operations, including public tenders for offsetting federal government business travel, and it states that around 95 of every 100 euros donated go directly to climate projects. Supervision is provided by a supervisory board and a scientific advisory board. The organisation says that offsetting is a second-best solution, to be used alongside avoiding and reducing emissions.