COLOGNE/KERPEN/LANGENBACH. Because there were indications that there might be fraud in climate protection projects, the police have searched several companies in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria. Documents were seized in the cities of Cologne, Kerpen and Langenbach on Friday. said the public prosecutor in Berlin.
The companies involved are specialized in “drawing up environmental reports”, in which they in collaboration with the Federal Environment Agency provide other companies with evidence that they have reduced their CO2 emissions. By taking such evidence into account, companies can more easily meet their climate protection requirements.
Climate fraud is said to have caused more than a million euros in damage
The companies are now suspected of having committed fraud in the awarding of these reports. Specifically, people were allegedly “misled as to the existence and/or eligibility to apply for various climate protection projects”, so that “guarantees granted in the meantime could not be collected for the benefit of the state treasury”. The damage caused is estimated at over 1.12 million euros.
The signals of fraud incidents are said to have come from China, reports World. The Federal Environment Agency then asked the state for administrative assistance. “We have to do this because we have no sovereign rights in China,” a spokesman for the agency said in May. The office filed a complaint the same month.
The raids are part of a larger investigation involving the Federal Environment Agency. According to the investigation, the agency is said to have paid out a total of 4.5 billion euros to projects that are useless. About 80 million euros are said to have gone to a project in the Chinese province of Uyghurs. However, during the inspection, bioenergy companies only found an abandoned chicken coop on the site. (pound)