The promotion of sustainable development is PEM’s core business, and the commitment to sustainable development is also a core value and part of our identity. In our work, we contribute to green growth, low-carbon development, and handing over a healthy planet to future generations. However, PEM operates globally, and as a result frequent air travel is an inevitable part of our operations. Air travel is by far where we have our biggest environmental and climate-related footprint. Hence, since we cannot avoid air travel, we offset our carbon emissions as the second-best option to act as a responsible firm. Our carbon offsetting scheme is two-pronged in order to maximise its positive impact: a) we utilise the airlines’ own carbon compensation schemes when carbon offsetting can be purchased as part of the ticket, and b) the PEM Carbon Partnership, launched in connection with PEM’s 25-year anniversary in 2020, supports selected climate change interventions financially or with pro-bono technical inputs.
In the PEM Carbon Partnership, we prioritise carbon offsetting that has both socio-economic and environmental co-benefits, investing in carbon offsetting initiatives with low transaction costs. The financial contribution is determined on the basis of PEM’s air travel carbon emissions. The PEM Carbon Partnership is therefore supporting the Integrating Livelihoods and Conservation – People Partner with Nature for Sustainable Living (PPN) Program implemented by BirdLife Denmark (Dansk Ornitologisk Forening). The PPN Program, in collaboration with national partners, governments, local conservation groups and communities, promotes sustainable and participatory forest management while improving livelihoods and building climate change resilience around Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas in Kenya, Nepal and Uganda.
