FT.com / In depth - Colombia’s palm growers turn methane into gold
Turning Methane Into Gold - The New Alchemy
Colombia’s palm oil producers have found a way to turn methane into almost €10m a year in extra revenues through carbon trading under the CDM.
Colombian palm oil growers turn methane into gold Friday, 04 December 2009
Walter Ritzel is surveying a putrid, Olympic swimming pool-sized pond of rotting palm fruit debris at the Tequendama palm oil plant in Colombia ́s far north, with a look of almost paternal pride. We are going to turn this he says, arcing his hand enthusiastically over the gently simmering brown foam, into euros. The gas that is giving this pond its fizz is methane, and Colombia palm oil producers have found a way to turn it into almost 10M euro a year in extra revenues through carbon trading. Banding together to create the first sectoral project under the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), they reckon each tonne of methane they mitigate will be worth around 13.75 euro in certified emissions reductions credits (Cers).
Thirty-two palm producers, about 80 per cent of the Colombian industry, have agreed to cut 757,000 tonnes a year of methane emissions, and harness residual emissions to create up to 200 megawatts of renewable energy. While the CDM has grouped together similar projects in the past, this is the first time an industry sector has created a project with a shared baseline reduction in emissions, says Thomas Black, executive director of the Bogota-based Andean Centre for Economics in the Environment. This is one of the largest methane reduction projects in the world, says Mr Black. Here we have a major economic sector that is going to cut emissions, switch to renewable energy, and have enough capacity left over to sell back to the national grid.
Source: Financial Times
Turning Methane Into Gold - The New Alchemy
Colombia’s palm oil producers have found a way to turn methane into almost €10m a year in extra revenues through carbon trading under the CDM.
Colombian palm oil growers turn methane into gold Friday, 04 December 2009
Walter Ritzel is surveying a putrid, Olympic swimming pool-sized pond of rotting palm fruit debris at the Tequendama palm oil plant in Colombia ́s far north, with a look of almost paternal pride. We are going to turn this he says, arcing his hand enthusiastically over the gently simmering brown foam, into euros. The gas that is giving this pond its fizz is methane, and Colombia palm oil producers have found a way to turn it into almost 10M euro a year in extra revenues through carbon trading. Banding together to create the first sectoral project under the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), they reckon each tonne of methane they mitigate will be worth around 13.75 euro in certified emissions reductions credits (Cers).
Thirty-two palm producers, about 80 per cent of the Colombian industry, have agreed to cut 757,000 tonnes a year of methane emissions, and harness residual emissions to create up to 200 megawatts of renewable energy. While the CDM has grouped together similar projects in the past, this is the first time an industry sector has created a project with a shared baseline reduction in emissions, says Thomas Black, executive director of the Bogota-based Andean Centre for Economics in the Environment. This is one of the largest methane reduction projects in the world, says Mr Black. Here we have a major economic sector that is going to cut emissions, switch to renewable energy, and have enough capacity left over to sell back to the national grid.
Source: Financial Times
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