Credit Suisse is a global financial services firm committed to supporting their clients in the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient business models. As part of this approach, they provide sustainable finance and investment solutions, alongside reducing the carbon footprint of their own operations, which have been greenhouse gas neutral for over a decade. Credit Suisse has also set clear sustainability goals, including a commitment to reach net zero by 2050.
That’s why it was essential that the Credit Suisse Carbon Negative Conference, held in September 2022, live up to its name. The event highlighted carbon removal technologies, innovative project developers, decarbonization enablement technologies and platforms from around the world, connecting them with financial entities for introductory meetings - allowing catalytic capital to align with companies at the nexus of the world’s pathway to net zero.
To support the companies at the conference - many of whom sell carbon credits to fund climate action - as well as contribute to the shared vision for a carbon negative future, Credit Suisse chose to measure the event’s emissions and purchase credits beyond its total calculated footprint, making it not just carbon neutral, but carbon negative.
And for that, they turned to Patch.
Estimation, compensation
Patch connects companies of all sizes with trusted carbon credits from an expertly vetted, broad scope of projects. They can also estimate the emissions footprint of a discrete activity. In this case, that included everything on site for the event, such as electricity, catering, and food waste, as well as Credit Suisse employee travel and lodging.
To quickly and accurately calculate the total emissions for the conference, Patch leveraged their own carbon estimation capabilities for flights, hotels, and other travel, along with publicly available emissions data for things like food and beverages.
With the estimate in hand, Credit Suisse could then compensate accordingly by selecting a portfolio of meaningful carbon credits from the Patch platform. The financial services firm purchased carbon credits with Patch’s guidance, including those from attendees CarbonCure, Charm, Living Carbon, and CarbonBuilt.
“What was so great is that a number of projects available through the Patch platform were also represented at the conference,” explains Rob Santangelo, Co-Head of Global Energy and Transition and Chair of ESG Advisory at Credit Suisse. “Being able to support the same companies we were hosting helped us demonstrate the real-world value of the technology and expertise involved in this rapidly growing sector.”
Going the extra mile
But Credit Suisse didn’t stop there. To encourage climate action beyond the four walls of the conference, the Group offered attendees the capability of offsetting their own travel and lodging footprint via a dedicated app created for the occasion.
“Climate action inspires climate action,” concludes Brennan Spellacy, Co-founder and CEO of Patch. “When employees and onlookers see a company making meaningful choices, they feel empowered to do the same.”
