B travel, Halcón Viajes, Viajes Ecuador and RACC Travel will offer their clients the option to offset the carbon footprint of their trips upon purchase, in collaboration with ClimateTrade. With the implementation of this innovative service, travel agencies within Ávoris Corporación Empresarial are pioneers in Spain in offering this eco-responsible travel option.   Palma, May 25, 2022: Halcón Viajes, B travel, Viajes Ecuador and RACC Travel, travel agencies that are part of the Ávoris network, today launch “Offset your emissions”, a pioneering service in Spain that aims to offset the carbon footprint of their customers’ trips. With this innovation, Ávoris’s travel agency network becomes the first in Spain to offer this environmentally friendly travel option. For this new service, Ávoris has chosen ClimateTrade as a partner. This Spanish-born marketplace supports global brands’ decarbonization targets and facilitates the financing of climate-regenerative and greenhouse gas reduction and offsetting projects around the world, leveraging blockchain technology to guarantee the traceability of carbon credits. This initiative by Ávoris complements others, such as the offsetting of the entire carbon footprint of its employees’ trips, marking the group’s commitment towards environmental sustainability, a core principle for the company, which brings benefits for its employees, clients, shareholders, suppliers and society in general. “Offset your emissions” works as follows: upon purchasing any trip, 15 days before departure, the client will receive an email leading them to a webpage customized for each of Ávoris’s brands, where they can offset the carbon footprint of their trip via a suggested donation of €3, or more if they wish. Once the transaction is finalized, the traveler will receive a certificate serving as proof of their carbon offsetting activity and contribution to greenhouse gas absorption projects registered by Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge. Juan Miguel Morales, director of the leisure division of Ávoris Corporación Empresarial, said: “This innovative project we are implementing in our agencies is proof of Ávoris’s firm commitment to being a guardian of the environment, by implementing socially responsible business practices. ‘Offset your emissions’ is a pioneering project on a national level and I’m sure that very soon all travel agencies in Spain will follow our lead.”

The purpose is to contribute to clean energy production and offset part of MAPFRE’s carbon footprint.  The CO2 offsetting transaction was conducted on ClimateTrade’s climate marketplace, which specializes in carbon offsetting projects.  The insurance firm selects environmental and social projects to offset the emissions it cannot reduce.  In 2021, MAPFRE met its target of being a carbon-neutral company in Spain and Portugal, and is now looking towards its 2030 goal: carbon neutrality across the Group.  Madrid, May 9th, 2022: MAPFRE has offset 15,400 tons of CO2 through the Oaxaca IV Wind Project, located in the Itsmo de Tehuantepec region, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Thanks to said facility, which is part of one of the largest wind energy complexes in Latin America, the insurance firm has offset 79% of the carbon emissions released in Spain and Portugal in 2021. The initiative is part of its Corporate Environmental Footprint Plan 2021-2030, through which the insurance firm selects environmental and social projects to offset the emissions it cannot reduce. The emissions offsetting transaction was conducted through ClimateTrade, a blockchain-based climate marketplace, which made it transparent and issued a CO2 emissions offsetting certificate. The Oaxaca IV Wind Project is part of the Oaxaca Wind Complex operated by Acciona, where energy for 700,000 Mexican homes si being produced, and where educational and community support activities are being promoted. Thanks to this projects, 670,000 tons of CO2 emissions are avoided every year. Reforestation and decarbonization This carbon offsetting project in Mexico is in addition to the ‘MAPFRE Forest’ project, created in 2021, which includes all of the multinational’s reforestation activities, aiming to preserve biodiversity and natural capital and to create carbon sinks in the areas where it operates. Thanks to this project, the multinational has planted a total of  6,541 trees in Spain and Portugal, which will absorb 4,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, offsetting 21% of MAPFRE’s emissions in these countries. Strict commitments In 2021, MAPFRE met its objective to be a carbon-neutral company in Spain and Portugal. For 2030, it is committed to reducing its carbon footprint by 50% compared to 2019, and to achieve carbon neutrality in all its countries of operation. By 2050, MAPFRE will raise its sustainability expectations, as a signatory to the Net Zero Insurance Alliance, with the goal of achieving net zero GHG emissions by 2050, meaning zero net emissions in its insurance and reinsurance portfolios.

ClimateTrade is now operational in the EU’s mandatory carbon market (EU ETS) after completing its admission with EEX. Valencia, April 7, 2022 – ClimateTrade, the world’s first blockchain-based climate marketplace, is now operational in the European Union’s mandatory carbon market after completing its admission with the European Energy Exchange (EEX). From now on, buyers and sellers of EU allowances (EUAs), the carbon credits tradable under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), can conduct transactions on the ClimateTrade marketplace, leveraging its agile digital platform for efficiency and transparency. ClimateTrade connects climate mitigation project developers directly with companies looking to offset their carbon footprint, and uses blockchain technology to ensure the end-to-end traceability of carbon credits. The company has facilitated the offset of more than 2 million tons of CO2 on the global voluntary carbon market since its inception in 2017. The EEX admission marks its first entry into mandatory carbon markets, making it the first and only company in Europe facilitating carbon offsetting in both the voluntary market and the EU ETS through blockchain. Francisco Benedito, ClimateTrade’s co-founder and CEO, comments: “Having the ability to operate in the EU’s mandatory carbon market is a crucial part of our strategy to power gigaton decarbonization, and we are very proud of this achievement. We chose EEX for being the leading energy exchange providing secure, successful and sustainable commodity markets worldwide.” “We’re delighted to welcome ClimateTrade based in Valencia as a new participant. We look forward to building markets together with them. A warm welcome from the whole EEX team,” says Carlos Miguel Urro, EEX Senior Sales Manager for Southern Europe. Driving impact and efficiency in the EU ETS The EU ETS is the world’s biggest mandatory carbon market, and plays a significant role in influencing the development of others around the world. But the urgency of the climate crisis, the growth of decarbonization ambitions and unexpected power market shocks are placing unprecedented pressure on this system.  In the white paper A 2030 outlook for Europe’s mandatory carbon market, launched today to commemorate its admission at the EEX, ClimateTrade analyzes established targets, recent policy adjustments and external drivers to predict the evolution of the EU ETS, and shares its vision for an efficient and impactful mandatory carbon market. The white paper is available to download for free here.

Banco Sabadell has teamed up with ClimateTrade to offset the CO2 emissions associated with its operations in 2021, by investing in forest projects in Spain. Banco Sabadell is advancing in its sustainability commitment by focusing on reducing and offsetting its own carbon emissions, as well as supporting clients with sustainable solutions and consulting for their environmental transition. In 2021, the bank complemented its action plan with the offsetting of its carbon footprint via investment in carbon dioxide mitigation projects that generate positive impact in their communities of operation. Banco Sabadell approved the offsetting of 3,632 tons of CO2, representing emissions from scope 1, 2 and 3 (relating to business travel), through investment in Spanish project certified by the Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITECO). With this initiative, Banco Sabadell bets on three forest projects, two of which are in Galicia, specifically in Parada de Achas (1,083 tons of CO2) andLaza – Touza (151 tons of CO2). The third is a reforestation project based on sustainable forest management (2,398 tons of CO2), located in the Sierra de Gredos (Ávila) and being developed in synergy with the Regional Park and the Natura 2000 network. Ana Ribalta, Director of Sustainability at Banco Sabadell, commented: “This is another example of how Banco Sabadell is aligning its activities to the Paris Agreement. It forms part of our sustainability strategy, which revolves, among other things, around our commitment to keep making progress to reduce our own emissions and to reach neutrality in all our operations.” The offsetting of 2021 emissions is one amongst a set of measures the bank has adopted to keep reducing its own carbon footprint, including the use of renewable energy since 2015, eco-efficiency measures and waste and material consumption reduction plans for water, paper and plastics. All these initiatives serve to strengthen the bank’s existing commitments as a member of the main international alliances for a sustainable and carbon-neutral economy, through frameworks such as the UN’s Responsible Banking Principles, the Collective Commitment to Climate Action or the Net-Zero Banking Alliance by UNEPFI.