FAQ

There are two existing membership models that have different responsibilities.

Regular Membership
Membership of the association is open to legal entities, partnerships and individual entrepreneurs who are committed to the purposes and objectives of the association, actively cooperate in the achievement of the association's purpose and in this respect satisfy at least one of the following criteria:

• Ability to perform analyses and prepare studies
• Ability to support and supervise technologies within the meaning of §2.2, Articles of Association;
• Competence to advise on and assess the operation of carbon sinks.

The admission of a natural person to the organs of the association requires a regular membership of the legal entity or partnership with which the natural person is in an employment relationship.

Sponsoring Membership
Any natural or legal person or other association of persons who is interested in financially supporting and promoting the objectives of the association may become a sponsoring member.

Sponsoring members have a non-voting guest status in the General Meeting.
However, they have the right to speech in the General Meeting. Sponsoring members are entitled to call themselves "Sponsoring Member" of the association.

Source: Extract from the "Articles of Association", legally binding are always the currently valid "Articles of Association", not the texts on the website.

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Under the following text link you will find an non-binding application for the membership. You can find the current membership fee here or contact us directly to get a better understanding.

Join and become a member!

The Membership ends by voluntary termination, through dissolution of the organization or exclusion from the association.
Termination of membership is only admissible to the end of a calendar year by written declaration to the Board of Directors giving three months' notice.

A member may be excluded from the association by decision of the Board of Directors if

• it has caused harm to the association or otherwise seriously violated its interests
• it is in default of payment of the annual fee or a substantial part thereof after having received a reminder
• insolvency proceedings have been initiated against the member's assets or an application has been filed for the initiation of such proceedings
• there is another important reason in the person of the member

In case a member shall be excluded, the member shall be given the opportunity to defend itself before the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors shall decide on the exclusion by means of a reasoned resolution, which shall be communicated to the respective member in writing. In lieu of exclusion, membership may be suspended for a limited period under exemption from the obligation to pay the fees.

By written request to the Board of Directors of the member to be excluded or of the rejected applicant within four weeks from receipt of the decision of exclusion, the next ordinary General Meeting shall decide on the exclusion or rejection. The request of the member to be excluded shall have suspensive effect. The decision of the General Meeting shall be final. A new application for admission to the association is admissible provided that it is accompanied by an appropriate statement of reasons.

Members shall not be entitled to any of the association's funds in case they terminate their membership or in case of dissolution of the association.

Source: Extract from the "Articles of Association", legally binding are always the currently valid "Articles of Association", not the texts on the website.

ESTAINIUM is not a non-profit association, that has been growing rapidly since its foundation in 2022.

So the members contribute money, knowledge and labor. The ESTAINIUM members represent diverse roles in a future circular carbon economy: There are representatives from industry and research, verification organisations, carbon sink operators, software providers, universities and startups around the world and their fields of activity are production, research, carbon storage, law, certification, software and much more. The current membership fee you will find here.

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The General Meeting shall determine the amount of the ordinary fee and their method of payment. The General Meeting is entitled to decide on extraordinary fees, which in the yearly aggregate may not exceed half of the ordinary annual fee.

Further details, in particular the granting of fee reductions or exemptions in individual cases or for certain groups of members, shall be governed by the fee rules to be decided by the General Meeting and to be issued by the Board of Council.

The Board of Council or the Board of Directors shall be entitled, in case of good cause, to raise additional fees not exceeding one quarter of the ordinary annual fee per regular member.

Source: Extract from the "Articles of Association", legally binding are always the currently valid "Articles of Association", not the texts on the website.

Quite apart from maintaining an environment that we know and feel comfortable in, it is also economically imperative to reduce the carbon footprint for each product along the supply chain in each production step. And that’s the goal of the ESTAINIUM association, supporting each other for a better future.

It’s simple. The idea behind ESTAINIUM is to create a pre-competitive network. This means pooling knowledge and working together on a solution without jeopardizing or manipulating the competition between individual members.

What if I am a member and my direct competitor also wants to become a member?
ESTAINIUM does not talk about product features, prices and so on. There are rules not to exchange price relevant supplier details, costs, etc. It's just about how to exchange reliable carbon data for products that have to be public in the end anyway.

ESTAINIUM provides a digital ecosystem for producers, carbon removal projects and certifying companies. CO2 footprints of products can be entered, certified and exchanged. Open, transparent and independent from producers, governments or funders

No. ESTAINIUM only creates, maintains and develops the infrastructure for a certified and reliable exchange. In addition, you can integrate your own application where you calculate the carbon footprint of your products. There are already some applications from members who are already using them and some of these solutions you can buy or rent.

Yes and no. CO2 is an important component of the atmosphere, all green plants need CO2 for photosynthesis. But CO2 also heats up the planet, which is good to a certain level. However, the CO2 introduced by humans in addition to the natural carbon cycle reinforces the earth's natural greenhouse effect and thereby warms the climate.

A large part of it is produced by the companies of the industry.

Net zero refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. It is the internationally agreed-upon goal for mitigating global warming: the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has determined the need for net-zero CO2 by 2050 to avoid catastrophic climate change. The IPCC acknowledges that reducing all emissions to absolute zero by 2050 will be difficult, requiring not only significant emission cuts but also more intensive removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.

Source: Extract from the "WEF-Whitepaper", legally binding is always the currently valid "WEF-Whitepaper", not the texts on the website.

The ESTAINIUM members represent diverse roles in the future ecosystem of a circular carbon economy: there are representatives from industry and research, certifying institutions, carbon sink operators and software providers. This unique constellation enables us to develop practical solutions. In addition to the work in three working groups, common use cases and pilot projects are defined to learn and share the experience with the members of the association. All activities pay into the association’s vision, which maps the path from carbon emission to carbon sink along multi-stage, complex production networks. In a nutshell:

GOVERNING 

the ESTAINIUM Network as an open and independent infrastructure

ENABLING 

companies to drive decarbonization today and share best practices

SHAPING
the future of sustainable industry together with a source-to-sink perspective.

On our contact page you will find all the information to get in contact with us.
We look forward to answering all your questions.

You can find more information in our whitepaper and some other documents in the download area.

In our news section you can find the latest articles about ESTAINIUM. Feel free to take a look, if you have any questions we will be happy to help you.

You will find the working group (WG) overview under the link and on the working groups main page.

Yes, of course. The related acronyms can be found on our glossary page.

First of all we want to explain the distinction between scopes using a salt shaker:

Scope 1: The salt shaker is manufactured and packaged in a factory. The production facility uses natural gas as fuel. The combustion of natural gas leads to direct greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions fall under Scope 1 as they occur within the company's control.

Scope 2: To power the factory, the company sources electricity from an external utility provider. The generation of electricity by the utility company may result in indirect greenhouse gas emissions, depending on the energy sources used. These emissions fall under Scope 2 as they are indirectly associated with the company's energy consumption.

Scope 3: The salt shaker is delivered in a plastic packaging consisting of various components, including the plastic itself and potentially additional materials like labels or closures. The production of these packaging materials generates indirect greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the transportation of the salt shaker to retail locations and its subsequent use by customers can contribute to additional emissions. These emissions fall under Scope 3 as they are outside the direct control of the company but connected to its activities.

Conclusion: Scope 3 is the most difficult one and ESTAINIUM wants to focus on it.