Improving lives and avoiding emissions with solar light

Our first Gold Standard project brings solar to rural families in four provinces in Zambia.

Our project in Zambia

Our project is Namibia's first Gold Standard-certified carbon project.

Our project in Namibia

Climate projects: carbon offsetting with solar lights

Namene Solar’s climate projects enable access to clean light, for the first time, to thousands of families living in energy poverty.

Our award-winning solar lights are 100% powered by the sun, which eliminates carbon emissions and the cost of kerosene and candles used by these families to light their homes.

The carbon credits generated by our Gold Standard-certified projects, allow us to break the affordability barrier for solar lighting by offering lights at subsidised prices to families living below the poverty line. From the moment our lights are deployed, they provide clean light and clean air to breathe and eliminate the deadly fire risk from kerosene lamps and candles.

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How carbon offsetting works

Namene Solar’s climate projects reduce CO₂ emissions and support sustainable development by replacing fossil fuel-based lighting with solar lights.

More than half a billion people in Africa don’t have access to electricity. Many families use fossil fuel-based lighting, like kerosene lamps or candles.

These are low-quality lights that emit toxic fumes, cause respiratory illnesses and contribute to climate change by releasing CO₂.

Replacing kerosene lamps with our solar lights avoids the carbon emissions from burning kerosene, therefore leading to a carbon reduction which is then certified as carbon credits.

Our projects are certified by Gold Standard, to meet the highest requirements of the voluntary carbon market.

Our projects in Zambia and Namibia offset your unavoidable emissions and enable families living off-grid to gain access to clean, renewable light.

Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals

Our projects contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and we measure our contribution against the following three:

SDG 1 No Poverty: Our lights tackle poverty by saving families’ money that would be spent on kerosene and paraffin fuel for lighting. Our long-lasting solar lights means families benefit from savings for at least five years.

SDG 7 Affordable and clean energy: Our project provide first time access to clean lighting powered by the sun with our rechargeable pico-solar light that meets VeraSol Quality Standards and provides up to 15 hours of light in a single charge.

SDG 13 Climate Action: Our project reduces greenhouse gas emissions and black carbon by replacing fossil fuel-based lighting with clean pico-solar lights.

Take the first steps to offset your emissions.

Since 2020, we have deployed over half a million solar lights through our climate projects. Each one avoids emissions in a meaningful way. By choosing to offset your emissions with Namene Solar you are helping reach off-grid families with sustainable solar light.

Offset your emissions and improve lives with solar

Purchase carbon offsets

Partner with us on our climate projects.

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namene solar solar light carbon offsets carbon credits in Zambia

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Frequently asked questions

You can find out more about our climate projects using the FAQ menu.

If you can’t find the question you’re looking for, please get in touch and our climate team will be happy to help.

What is the voluntary carbon market?

The voluntary carbon market serves the purpose of businesses, government departments, NGOs and individuals who want to be accountable for their carbon footprint and help drive the transition to a low-carbon future. Recognised international standards, such as Gold Standard, exist to monitor and verify the quality and validity of the carbon credits that are traded in the voluntary carbon market.

What is a carbon credit?

A carbon credit represents the removal of one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e) from the atmosphere, or the avoidance of these emissions occurring in the first place. One tCO2e represents roughly the monthly energy consumption of an average American household.

Carbon credits are achieved when a project implements an activity or technology that reduces carbon emissions beyond what it would be without the project. That means the project activity is additional and contributes to reducing emissions from the atmosphere. By purchasing carbon credits, a buyer is contributing by helping to finance a carbon project to take place and continue operating

What does Gold Standard mean?

Gold Standard for the Global Goals is an international standard that sets requirements to design projects for maximum positive impact in climate and development – and measure and report outcomes in the most credible and efficient way.

Every Gold Standard-certified project includes gender-sensitive and inclusive stakeholder design. Each project follows environmental and social safeguarding principles, and contributes toward at least three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This ensures the greatest impact is delivered for every dollar channelled to projects.

How do you measure the project impact?

Our projects contribute to at least 3 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) and have positive impacts that ripple out beyond these in households and communities. As a part of the Gold Standard certification process, our projects adhere to the ‘do no harm’ principle, consult with local stakeholders, and we ensure the projects not only help protect the climate by contributing to SDG 13, Climate Action, but also benefit local communities by contributing to two additional SDGs, such as SDG1, No Poverty, and SDG 7, Sustainable Energy for All.

Impacts are monitored during the whole project and reported as part of the Gold Standard certification process. This ensures that our project impacts are real, measurable, and verified by an independent third party.

How can I offset my carbon emissions?

After reducing your emissions as much as possible, purchasing carbon credits is another way to take climate action beyond your own area of influence.

carbon offsetting allows organisations and individuals to support the transition to a low-carbon future. You can calculate your carbon emissions using an online carbon footprint calculator, such as the offered by WWF UK.

If you are an organisation interested in buying carbon credits from Namene Solar, please get in touch with us at climate@namenesolar.com

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