Carbon removal credits describe a ton of CO2 which has been removed from the atmosphere. Examples include afforestation, direct air capture and biochar.

Carbon avoidance credits describe a ton of CO2 which has been avoided from being released into the atmosphere. Examples include renewable energy and forest protection.

Projects from Pina Earth consist largely of carbon removals, which comes from planting new trees. Meanwhile, Pina Earth also has a minor share of avoidance volumes, which come from decreased mortality rates of trees caused by climate change.

Pina Earth's forest adaptation projects are certified by TÜV NORD CERT GmbH according to the ISO 14064-2 standard. TÜV NORD CERT is accredited by the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to validate and verify climate protection projects.

In addition, our forest adaptation method is currently in the accreditation process with the "Wald-Klimastandard" - the first German standard to certify forest ecosystem services.

There are three major categories for nature-based solutions: Forest protection, afforestation and improved forest management. Pina Earth’s projects fall into the category of improved forest management.

Forest protection is hardly applicable to Europe, as there is not much illegal deforestation taking place.

Afforestation plays an important role in climate change. However, Europe has a high population density and not many areas are available for impactful afforestation.

Meanwhile, improved forest management is highly important as 25% of the total forest (3 million hectares) need to be adapted in Germany alone. Turning endangered monocultures into climate-resilient, biodiverse forests is therefore an urgent task that Pina Earth focuses on and welcomes clients to join.

The additionality criterion means that a project would not have been developed without the additional revenues from the carbon market. Pina Earth carefully examines whether a project is additional and only develops projects where additionality is given. In more details, there are three types of additionality which Pina Earth evaluates:

Legal additionality: At the start of Pina Earth’s projects, the climate project and
planned measures are not prescribed by laws, ordinances, or regulations. Further, the scientifically required adaptation rate of 95,000 ha/year by 2050 will not be achieved via legal frameworks alone.

Financial additionality: The costs of implementing projects on the project areas during the crediting period exceed the income generated by the project implementation.

Carbon additionality: The project generates a real and measurable climate impact, which is above the performance level of standard practice (baseline or “business-as-usual”).

Pina Earth’s projects are currently all located in Germany. First pilot projects are located in Thüringen and Brandenburg.