Oliver Heer Ocean Racing and ClimatePartner are excited to announce that over the next three years the IMOCA team will work closely together to deliver a Carbon Neutral Vendée Globe Campaign. Climate Partner will help the Oliver Heer Ocean Racing team to calculate and reduce the company’s carbon emissions and offset the unabated emissions.
“ I am very excited to announce our partnership with Climate Partner as we work towards our 2024 Vendée Globe Campaign. Being able to count on their expertise to calculate , reduce and offset our carbon footprint and make our campaign carbon neutral, aligns with our strategy to promote and support climate action and share this message on our journey.
Oliver Heer, Skipper
Who is Climate Partner:
Climate Partner is a leading solution provider for corporate climate action, combining individual consulting with cloud-based software that is unique in the market. The company helps its customers calculate and reduce carbon emissions and offset unabated emissions. This renders products and companies carbon neutral, which is certified by the Climate Partner label.
To compensate carbon emissions, Climate Partner offers carbon offset projects in different regions around the world, with different technologies and standards. The additional social benefits of the projects are particularly important, and each carbon offset project contributes to several of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.
Climate Partner was founded in Munich in 2006. The company now has over 500 employees globally, based in Barcelona, Berlin, Boston, Essen, Frankfurt, London, Milan, Munich (HQ), Paris, Stockholm, The Hague, Vienna and Zurich. The company works with more than 5,000 companies in 60 plus countries.
How will Oliver Heer Ocean Racing work with Climate Partner to become a Carbon Neutral Company:
To be awarded a unique carbon neutral label the team will have a series of consultations with the Climate Partner experts and our carbon emissions will be calculated.
Climate Partner calculates emissions as follows:
1. Direct emissions from own facilities and vehicles
2. Indirect emissions from purchased Energy
3. Business travel and employee commuting
4. Purchased goods and services (catering, overnight stays, materials for maintenance and repair)
5. Waste generated in operations
Once the calculation is completed the team will receive guidelines on how to operate on a daily basis to reduce their Carbon Footprint and work on a reduction strategy. Unabated emissions which cannot be reduced will be offset by supporting internationally recognized Carbon Offset Projects. Oliver Heer Ocean Racing will then be awarded a unique and transparent Climate Partner label which confirms they are a Carbon Neutral Company.
“We are very excited to be part of this fantastic, unique adventure! Oliver Heer and his ocean racing crew are a unique company and our first sailing crew to work with. Luca and his team are putting tremendous effort in keeping their carbon footprint as low as possible. We are proud to enable the team to successfully sail a carbon neutral Vendée Globe in 2024.”
Tristan A. Foerster, CEO and Co-Founder Climate Partner
The Offset project for Oliver Heer Ocean Racing is Wind energy as an alternative to South African coal-fired power plants.
Close to the town of De Aar, in the middle of South Africa's Northern Cape Province, are 96 wind turbines that have been producing an average of 439,600 MWh of electricity per year since 2017. The electricity is fed into the grid of the Republic of South Africa (RSA). The aim of the project is to harness the region's wind energy potential to balance its energy needs in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.
Until now, the RSA's electricity came mainly from coal-fired power plants. The share of electricity now supplied by the wind farm would have otherwise been generated by fossil fuels. The wind power project avoids an average of 37,600 CO2 per year and contributes significantly to climate action. In addition, the activities promote sustainable development of the region. New jobs are created, infrastructure is improved and negative environmental impacts associated with burning fossil fuels are mitigated.
How does wind energy help fight global warming?
Since wind energy is created without burning fossil fuels, it is considered emission-free. The growth of renewable energy production is essential to limiting global warming and securing energy supplies for the future. The amount of emissions saved by a wind power project is calculated using the baseline method: how much CO2 would be released by generating the same amount of energy using standard energy production methods for the region?
“As a professional sailing team operating a wind powered vessel, we understand the value of emission free energy and are proud to have a carbon offset project that is wind dependent, and contributes to climate action, reduces emissions and helps the infrastructure.”
Luca Brunner – Partnerships and Sustainability Manager – Oliver Heer Ocean Racing.
The carbon offset project also contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To learn more about ClimatePartner and the amazing work they do visit: www.climatepartner.com
About Oliver Heer Ocean Racing
Oliver Heer Ocean Racing, was established in April 2022, to become a global IMOCA 60 sailing team, with Swiss roots. Managed and skippered by 34 year old Oliver Heer. The objective is to compete in the 2024 Vendee Globe, the solo, non-stop, unassisted round the world race, that takes place every four years. The next edition starts in November 2024. The management headquarters are based in Zurich, Switzerland, where Oliver was born. The skipper has a family and home in the Hamble, UK and a French registered IMOCA sailing out of Port La Foret in Brittany, France.
The race program for 2022 is:
Defi Azimut, Lorient France – September
Route Du Rhum, ST Malo to Guadeloupe – November
As well as racing, the team is working towards securing suitable funding and title partnership for the campaign, but also wants to make a difference. As a wind-powered sport ocean racing is intrinsically linked with positive conversations about sustainability, climate change and environmental preservation.
The team will carry the tag #RaceForChange and wants to influence behavioural changes in society that can contribute to protecting the planet for future generations.
Website: www.oliverheer.com
For further information please contact Marketing@oliverheer.com
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