Our Story

In the summer of 2006 five young entrepreneurs from a scientific, economic, and environmental background teamed up in Zurich to found South Pole Carbon.
5 Years of South Pole: 2006
Their vision was, and is, to bring together people from innovative NGOs, multinational organizations and top notch business consultants to create a distinctive mix of minds which you need to address a challenge like climate change. So the founders of myclimate joined hands with former World Bank officers, UNFCCC experts and McKinsey consultants to realize a joint vision: use market mechanisms to foster efficient and sustainable emission reduction projects on a premium level. 5 Years of South Pole: 2011

Starting as a spin off from ETH (Swiss Institute of Technology), South Pole Carbon started growing from day one; within a few months our first satellite offices in Bangkok and Beijing were established. Over the years, the penguin logo has spread over nearly all continents, taking South Pole Carbon to Indonesia, Taiwan, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, and Vietnam.

In 2010 we opened up our office in India, which is where we started our first project Malavalli four years ago. The connection between then and now is our commitment to premium quality: Malavalli was the first ever project to issue Gold Standard credits. It has set standards in its sector and is now part of our rich Gold Standard portfolio. In 2011, we established offices in Medellín, Colombia, and set up a local presence in Kampala, Uganda, to strengthen our operations in South America and East Africa, respectively.

Today, South Pole Carbon is market leader in issued Gold Standard VERs. In December 2008 South Pole Carbon secured a minor investment from BP Alternative Energies. At a similar range, in summer 2010 a Swiss family office (Corisol Holding AG) stepped aboard to drive further their and South Pole Carbon's engagement against climate change.

In 2011, Environmental Finance's Voluntary Carbon Markets Survey named South Pole Carbon Best Project Developer – not too surprising for market insiders. In the same year, our two CEOs Renat Heuberger and Christoph Sutter were awarded Swiss Social Entrepreneurs of the Year by renowned Schwab Foundation/WEF. Today, we are renowned for our high quality pipeline, and are performing well on the forefront of PoA and forestry development. In addition we broadened our range of services with the most transparent and trustworthy emission reduction webshop in the market, and with our new service calculating and offsetting the emissions of funds and holdings.

We chose the penguin as our heraldic animal for its natural habitat at the South Pole and for its seventeen species' famous ability to adapt to different climate zones.

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