Energy & Climate

Sophia Lauer

Researcher

Special Expertise

International carbon markets
Climate finance

Career

Since 2023 | Researcher, Oeko-Institut, Germany
2022-2023 | Analyst, Copenhagen Economics, Denmark

Professional training

2019-2022 | Master of Science, Economics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
2015-2019 | Bachelor of Science, Economics, University of Bonn, Germany

Language Skills

German – Native speaker
English – Full professional proficiency

Contact

Sophia Lauer

Energy & Climate
Researcher
Berlin
+49 30 405085-348
E-Mail

Energy & Climate

ACHIEVE – Achieving High-Integrity Voluntary Climate Action

01/01/2024

The EU Horizon Project ACHIEVE (Achieving high-integrity voluntary climate action) addresses knowledge gaps and practical challenges to enable voluntary climate action to effectively and sustainably contribute to closing the climate mitigation gap. The project develops a comprehensi
Carbon pricing

Study on existing initiatives to inform potential climate-related delegated act(s) under the Green Claims Directive

12/07/2023

Oeko-Institut is supporting the European Commission in analysising areas of the voluntary carbon market that may be addressed in delegated acts under the Green Claims Directive. Towards this end, Oeko-Institut evaluates existing initiatives that address integrity in the voluntary carbon markets an
Carbon pricing

Update of the gap analysis of environmental and social safeguards of carbon crediting programs in the voluntary carbon market

11/01/2023

This study examines the conformity of carbon crediting programs on the voluntary carbon market with selected environmental and social standards. The study constitutes an update of the gap analysis conducted in 2020. The carbon crediting programs reviewed in the previous analysis are to be reviewed
Carbon pricing

Carbon Credit Quality Initiative (CCQI) – Expansion of assessments in 2023

02/15/2023

Founded by Environmental Defense Fund, Oeko-Institut and World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US), the Carbon Credit Quality Initiative (CCQI) provides transparent information on the quality of carbon credits. Under this assignment, the CCQI assessments are amended by applying the methodology to several
Biodiversity

Climate protection measures in coastal regions and waters - accounting, crediting and financing of blue carbon measures

11/30/2022

The research project pursues the following objectives: - Analysing the current role of blue carbon in the global climate architecture (negotiations and NDCs), - Analysing opportunities and risks of different financing instruments for blue carbon measures, especially market-based approaches,
Carbon pricing

Support of the negotiations on international carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

05/01/2022

In this project, Oeko-Institut supports, as part of the EU delegation, the negotiations on international carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Factsheet CCQI Commercial Afforestation

February 2024

Commercial afforestation projects have higher additionality risks than projects establishing natural forests as they do not solely rely on carbon credit revenues but also gain revenues from harvesting. In addition, some carbon crediting programs do not require checking for new legal requirements

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Factsheet CCQI Improved Forest Management

February 2024

IFM serves as an umbrella term for a broad array of forest management practices aiming at increasing or maintaining forest carbon stocks. IFM projects often combine several activities or management practices and sometimes change them over time. This broad spectrum of activities will be presented an

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CCQI scores for IFM projects point to substantial integrity risks

Blog 03/25/2024

The Carbon Credit Quality Initiative (CCQI) has released new scores for the integrity risks of carbon credits from improved forest management (IFM) projects. We find that unrealistic baselines and underestimated leakage are likely to lead to significant overestimation of emission reductions or removals under all assessed methodologies. The likelihood of additionality depends strongly on the forest management practices that are implemented. The sustainable development benefits are more limited compared to most other project types.
© Öko-Institut

Alternative reactor concepts do not solve the repository problem

Press releases 03/21/2024

A new scientific study commissioned by the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) indicates that the market launch of alternative reactor concepts (also known as "Generation IV") is currently not on the horizon. "Despite some intensive advertising by manufacturers, we currently see no development that would make the construction of alternative reactor types on a large scale likely in the coming years. On the contrary: "From a safety perspective, we should expect the potential advantages of these reactor concepts to be outweighed by the disadvantages and the questions that remain unresolved," says BASE President Christian Kühn, and emphasises that "The concepts solve neither the need to find a repository for radioactive waste nor the pressing issues of climate protection."

Sophia Lauer

Contact

Recent projects

ACHIEVE – Achieving High-Integrity Voluntary Climate Action

Study on existing initiatives to inform potential climate-related delegated act(s) under the Green Claims Directive

Update of the gap analysis of environmental and social safeguards of carbon crediting programs in the voluntary carbon market

Carbon Credit Quality Initiative (CCQI) – Expansion of assessments in 2023

Climate protection measures in coastal regions and waters - accounting, crediting and financing of blue carbon measures

Support of the negotiations on international carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Recent publications

Read more

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Contact

Recent projects

ACHIEVE – Achieving High-Integrity Voluntary Climate Action

Study on existing initiatives to inform potential climate-related delegated act(s) under the Green Claims Directive

Update of the gap analysis of environmental and social safeguards of carbon crediting programs in the voluntary carbon market

Carbon Credit Quality Initiative (CCQI) – Expansion of assessments in 2023

Climate protection measures in coastal regions and waters - accounting, crediting and financing of blue carbon measures

Support of the negotiations on international carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Recent publications

Factsheet CCQI Commercial Afforestation

Factsheet CCQI Improved Forest Management

Read more

CCQI scores for IFM projects point to substantial integrity risks

Alternative reactor concepts do not solve the repository problem