On 13 May, the 4th seminar on carbon footprint measurement was held online by the Öko-Institut to discuss advancements and challenges in measuring the carbon emissions of NOCs. In addition to discussions on the scope and results of footprint measurement, valuable inputs on carbon compensation and offsetting were presented, helping NOCs work on their reduction strategies.

Tobias Wagner from the Öko-Institut kicked off the seminar with an overview of the project's phases over the past months. Two months after the meeting in Lausanne, Climate Action Officers have had the opportunity to raise any remaining questions on the scope and results of their carbon footprint measurement. Tobias Wagner presented updates to the Excel tool, which has been improved to fit better with users’ feedback. The updated tool will be available for NOCs in the Autumn, while the online tool will be ready by the end of the year.

As the NOCs started to draft their carbon reduction strategies, the inputs on carbon compensation and offsetting presented by Martin Cames from the Öko-Institut have been valuable information to help the Climate Action Officer in this process. He discussed the broader context of climate responsibility versus climate compensation and highlighted the challenges involved in purchasing offset credits and the risk of greenwashing. In fact, he warned the Climate Action Officers about the reliability of re-forestation projects in terms of offsetting and advised that these kinds of projects should be approached with caution when used as offsetting mechanisms.

The NOCs are now expected to develop their reduction strategies, the adoption of which is scheduled for Spring 2025.  Seminar 5 will be held online in Autumn 2024, followed by Module 5 and a project meeting in Prague in December.