German nonprofit specialises in helping renewable energy projects in emerging markets

German non-profit renewable-energy company Atmosfair is focused on making renewable energy, and carbon offsetting, projects in developing and emerging economies (including South Africa) viable, explained project manager David Grüttner. He was addressing the Southern African Sustainable Energy Conference, in Somerset West, near Cape Town, on Thursday.

The company was funded by donations totalling €34-million a year, he reported. Their project focus was on reducing carbon emissions. Solar energy was a major focus, as were clean cooking technologies and biomass energy.

Atmosfair covered the entire project value chain from its initial development to marketing its carbon credits, after it was commissioned. One of the company’s prerequisites to supporting a project was that its investment would be essential to the project’s success – that it couldn’t be done without Atmosfair’s support.

The company could help develop the project, and provide financing for it. It could support the implementation of the project. It could guide the process of carbon certification for the project, and undertake the marketing of those credits (although it doesn’t sell carbon credits to intermediaries).

Supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals was very important for the company, in all the projects it supported.

He cited examples of successful projects implemented with the company’s support. One was a project in India that used crop residues to generate energy. That had a generation capacity of 8 MW. And in both Kenya and Nepal, they had implemented small-scale biogas plants for households, using cow dung as the feedstock.

He summed up the role of the company by saying that, if someone had a good idea for a project, but it was not apparently financially viable, they would provide the financing and other support to make it viable, including arranging for it to get carbon credit income.     

“Our work ethic is based on the following principle: only compensate what can’t be avoided or reduced,” stated Atmosfair on its website. “This approach constitutes the foundation for all our partnerships, ensuring not only climate integrity but also cost efficiency.”