A Guide to Climate Contributions: Taking Responsibility for Emissions

The NewClimate Institute introduces the concept of climate contributions as a financial commitment to support global climate action without claiming to offset or neutralise a company's own emissions. This approach is presented as a necessary alternative to traditional carbon offsetting, which the authors argue can undermine decarbonisation progress.

• Climate contributions are defined as financial support provided by an organisation for climate action outside its own value chain. Crucially, these contributions must not be used to claim the offsetting or neutralisation of actual emissions and are intended to complement, rather than replace, the direct reduction of a company's climate footprint.
• The document argues that current corporate practices, specifically the use of low-cost carbon credits to offset emissions, are failing to drive the structural change needed to prevent the most severe effects of global warming and may even hinder decarbonisation efforts.
• The climate contribution approach is designed to incentivise companies to cut their own emissions while enabling climate action in regions and sectors where public funding is limited, helping businesses become more resilient in a carbon-constrained economy.

APA

NewClimate Institute (2023). A Guide to Climate Contributions: Taking Responsibility for Emissions. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/a-guide-to-climate-contributions-taking-responsibility-for-emissions

Chicago

NewClimate Institute. A Guide to Climate Contributions: Taking Responsibility for Emissions. 2023. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/a-guide-to-climate-contributions-taking-responsibility-for-emissions.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=NewClimate Institute |title=A Guide to Climate Contributions: Taking Responsibility for Emissions |date=5 July 2023 |url=http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/a-guide-to-climate-contributions-taking-responsibility-for-emissions |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{newclimateinstitute2023guide, author = {{NewClimate Institute}}, title = {{A Guide to Climate Contributions: Taking Responsibility for Emissions}}, institution = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2023}, month = jul, url = {http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/a-guide-to-climate-contributions-taking-responsibility-for-emissions}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }