General Terms and Conditions of Swiss Climate AG

Version: 7 January 2022

Scope
1. The General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter referred to as “the GTCs”) apply to all legal transactions carried out via the online platform www.co2-footprint.ch of Swiss Climate AG. By concluding the contract, the customer agrees to the GTCs of Swiss Climate AG. Swiss Climate AG reserves the right to change these GTCs at any time. The version in force at the time of the order shall apply in all cases.
2. Swiss Climate AG only uses personal data of its customers for the purpose of trade with CO₂ certificates (verified emission reductions (VERs) and verified carbon units (VCUs)) under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), the Gold Standard (GS VERs) or a comparable standard for Swiss projects. The certificates issued and/or traded are retired by Swiss Climate AG via an independent register (such as the Gold Standard Registry or the Verra Registry) and thus withdrawn from the market for CO₂ certificates permanently and irrevocably. CO₂ emissions are offset via the retirement of certificates.
3. The terms and conditions are exclusive. Opposing or differing terms and conditions of the customer are not recognised unless Swiss Climate AG expressly agrees to their validity in writing.
4. Swiss Climate AG enables both companies and private individuals to calculate their CO₂ emissions and offset them via climate protection projects (CO₂ offsetting/CO₂ offsetting contribution).
Contract conclusion
1. The contract between the customer and Swiss Climate AG is concluded by means of a binding order in the online shop
2. Swiss Climate AG can only accept orders once it has received payment confirmation for the desired quantity of CO₂ certificates. After receipt of the order and payment by the customer and retirement of the desired CO₂ certificates by Swiss Climate AG, the certificates are permanently removed from the market.
Customer data
1. If required, the customer shall grant Swiss Climate AG access to the customer-specific data required for the provision of the services. The customer guarantees to Swiss Climate AG that the data transmitted is correct and complete. Swiss Climate AG shall accept no liability for any consequential losses suffered by the customer if the service provide by Swiss Climate AG was based on incorrect or incomplete data from the customer.
2. Swiss Climate AG shall use and treat the data and information received from the customer in confidence, in accordance with the provisions of these GTCs (in particular Section 10). However, Swiss Climate AG is entitled to use processed or derived data that could be based on customer data, among other things, for statistical, scientific or marketing purposes. If data is published in this context, Swiss Climate AG shall render the customer’s name anonymous or obtain the customer’s express agreement prior to publishing his/her name.
CO₂ offsetting
1. Following the conclusion of the contract, the customer receives a non-transferable certificate by e-mail which confirms the offsetting of the emissions. The certificate proves only that the number of CO₂ certificates indicated have been retired. It does not constitute a guarantee of climate neutrality or any other claims. The customer does not acquire any ownership rights to CO₂ certificates originating from emission reduction projects. The formal retirement of the CO₂ certificates will be carried out by Swiss Climate AG in the quarter following the purchase. The customer accepts that Swiss Climate AG will not retire the purchased CO₂ certificates individually but together with CO₂ certificates purchased by other customers. The customer also accepts that as a result, Swiss Climate AG will not provide an individual, formal retirement certificate. If the customer requires an individual, formal retirement certificate, Swiss Climate AG must be contacted prior to the purchase. Requests of this kind may give rise to additional costs for the customer. Once the CO₂ certificates have been retired, Swiss Climate has fulfilled its service obligation.
2. In the event of an unforeseen delay in the emission reductions in the selected climate protection projects, Swiss Climate AG shall guarantee – unless otherwise agreed with the customer – the realisation of the CO₂ offsetting via another, qualitatively equivalent project.
3. A delay in fulfilling or failure to fulfil the contract by Swiss Climate does not count as non-fulfilment or a breach of duties if it was caused by unavoidable events that Swiss Climate could not reasonably be expected to influence (“force majeure”).
Disclosure of the CO₂ calculations
1. Swiss Climate AG calculates the relevant quantity for the CO₂ offsetting on the basis of the latest information available to it. The calculations are used to determine an appropriate quantity for the CO₂ offsetting. The calculation bases are subject to regular review and revision; however, Swiss Climate AG accepts no liability for their being up-to-date or correct.
2. Swiss Climate AG calculates the CO₂ offsetting exclusively on the basis of the data provided by the customer and does not carry out any CO₂ offsetting that goes beyond that. In particular, Swiss Climate AG is not responsible for incorrect or incomplete customer data or for calculation errors which occur due to incorrect or incomplete data provided by the customer. Swiss Climate AG provides no guarantee, either explicit or implicit, of the completeness, accuracy, appropriateness, quality or suitability of the information that is being used for a certain purpose. Every guarantee of this kind is explicitly and fully excluded.
Payment
1. The prices stated at the time the order is placed via the online service shall apply.
2. The customer understands that by submitting the order, he/she is agreeing to the contract and making a purchase from Swiss Climate AG. The amount of the purchase price will be charged to his/her credit card. Following receipt of the payment, Swiss Climate AG will offset the contractually defined quantity of CO₂ emissions in accordance with Section 4.1.
Value-added tax
1. Companies outside Switzerland are responsible for submitting a tax return in the country in which their headquarters are located. For Swiss customers, all prices whose payment is covered by these terms and conditions are inclusive of Swiss VAT. The above is subject to any changes in VAT legislation.
Liability and exclusion of liability
1. Liability based on the culpability of Swiss Climate AG, its employees or legal representatives or third parties/vicarious agents/deputies acting on its behalf is limited to the transaction in question.
Use of names and logo and confirmation of offsetting
1. The use of Swiss Climate AG’s offsetting confirmation for communication purposes is explicitly welcomed. To avoid abuse or reputational damage, the following guidelines on the scope of communications and validity must be complied with:
2. Swiss Climate AG has the right to prohibit the display of the name, logo and offsetting confirmation at any time in the event of breaches of these provisions and criteria and in particular of the communication and validity guidelines.
3. The customer undertakes to remove the name, logo and offsetting confirmation immediately in the event of such a ban being issued.
4. The name, logo and/or confirmation offsetting may only be used in communications (letter paper, annual reports, advertising materials, invoices, website, etc.) in combination with the effectively confirmed unit. Companies, branches, locations, subsidiaries, parent companies, products, services, events, activities, etc., not included in the offsetting confirmation may not be linked to the name, logo or offsetting confirmation and the name, logo or offsetting confirmation may not be displayed on or together with them. Where several awards, labels, logos or brands are used simultaneously to confirm the same or similar achievements, it must be possible to rule out misunderstandings in the communications.
5. The customer is not permitted to change the text and design features, colour or framing of the name, logo and/or offsetting confirmation or distort them in any other way.
Data protection
1. Swiss Climate handles all personal data of customers/users in accordance with the applicable Data Protection Act (DPA) or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All personal data is treated with strict confidentiality. Swiss Climate AG is authorised to disclose personal data for the purpose of credit checks and payment monitoring.
2. By signing up as a registered user, the customer agrees that Swiss Climate AG can save his/her personal data for future orders.
3. Irrespective of the duration of the contract between the parties, the customer authorises Swiss Climate AG to include the data he/she provides in statistical analyses in anonymised form, for the purpose of improving its own services as well as for marketing or other commercial purposes.
Changes to the contract
1. All ancillary agreements, additions and changes to the contract must be made in writing in order to be valid.
2. Swiss Climate AG reserves the right to change these General Terms and Conditions (GTCs) at any time.
3. The current version is published on the website and/or sent to the customer. Subsequent changes to the GTCs shall become part of the contract if the customer does not object to them in writing within 30 days of the GTCs being published/sent to him/her.
Validity
1. If individual provisions of these General Terms and Conditions are invalid, this shall not affect the binding nature of the other provisions or the contracts concluded on the basis thereof. The invalid provision must be replaced by a valid one which approximates its sense and purpose as closely as possible.
Applicable law and place of jurisdiction
1. These General Terms and Conditions must be developed and construed in accordance with Swiss law and to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
2. The courts at Swiss Climate AG’s registered office (Bern, Switzerland) shall have jurisdiction over any disputes arising from or connected to the GTCs or the conclusion of a contract. However, Swiss Climate AG is free to assert its claims before other competent courts at another location in Switzerland or abroad.