HUNGARY'S FIRST CARBON NEUTRAL REAL ESTATE COMPANY

About climate change in general:

The amount of green-house gases in our atmosphere significantly affects the temperature of the Earth. As a result of these gases the current average temperature of the Earth is 14.6 °C. Without this effect the average temperature of the Earth would be around -18 °C. The atmosphere’s CO2 content has increased from 275 ppm to 375 ppm (ppm = parts per million) since the beginning of the industrial revolution and as a consequence the average temperature of the Earth has increased by nearly 1 °C over the last 50 years. The greatest problem is not the rise in temperature itself but the pace of it and this is what significantly affects the Earths atmosphere and the climate in which we live. This directly contributes to the extreme meteorological events that we have seen in recent years such as hurricane Katrina, the August Storms in 2006 and heat waves across Central Europe. In recent times the increasing frequency and intensity of these extreme meteorological events falls under the term of climate change not just global warming as we loose some of earths natural habitats, witness the extinction of species and suffer from the impact of rising sea levels as our polar ice is melted. To reduce the impact caused by climate change we must all achieve a drastic reduction in CO2 emissions. Regardless of the source of these contributing CO2 emissions the effect is one we share globally. As a result reducing these contributing emissions is also a responsibility that we share and must achieve globally.

What does Co2ntra do?

Co2ntra Hungary’s first carbon neutral real estate company. Countries who signed up to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 made legally binding commitments for the reduction of their individual and collective levels of carbon dioxide emissions. To control the emission levels carbon dioxide quotas were introduced. A single quota unit covers 1 ton of carbon dioxide emissions and to achieve the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions committed to the total amount of emission quotas issued is reduced year on year. In Europe the EU granted 12,000 high carbon dioxide emitting facilities (power plants, cement facilities) to cover their emission by quotas. If a business emits more carbon-dioxide than is covered by its allocated quota the business has to buy extra quotas to offset this. If the amount of carbon-dioxide emissions is less than the total of the firm’s quota, the company can sell its remaining quotas. It is not however only a corporate responsibility to reduce CO2 emission, but a personal one as well. Per capita CO2 emission of Hungarian citizens is around 7.8 tons per year. It is clear that this is a quite significant amount and collectively earth’s citizens can do a lot to combat climate change by decreasing or offsetting their own CO2 emission. If your business or you personally decide to make a change to the environment, CO2NTRA can help you to do it in a few easy steps. You can calculate your level of emission using our calculators and offsetting this is simple and very effective. We buy the appropriate amount of CER units thus removing them from the market place. By doing so, your CO2 emission units become inactivated and others can not buy them. This offsets your carbon footprint, limits the amount of emissions others can purchase for use and restricts the establishment of further large emitting facilities. CO2NTRA uses only CER units, since only these are officially certified by the UN.