In our newsletter this month:
Looking ahead in 2010: environmental business initiatives
This year ClimateCare is offering continued excellence in carbon offset projects, origination in innovative technologies and emphasis on how to help businesses and individuals reduce their impact on the climate. Working with us you can go above and beyond regulatory measures and make a real difference to people and the planet.
Later in our newsletter we look at the valuable low carbon technologies that people and small businesses helped to fund in 2009. But for now we want to introduce a new set of emission reduction projects available for funding
today. Two new projects in China, using water and wind to power the grid with renewable energy, join our Cambodian efficient stoves project, a bagasse power project in India and a new Argentinean operation involving high-pressure biomass boilers. All
these projects are available on a public registry, with verified tonnes either issued or imminent.
Image: Shutterstock
During 2010 we are also looking to introduce forestry projects to our portfolio, offering our customers the opportunity to fund forestry projects accredited to one of the international standards. Taking our customer and colleague feedback onboard, we are excited about the projects becoming available and look forward to being part of the growing investment movement in reforestation and avoided deforestation.
As part of J.P. Morgan’s continued emphasis on wider environmental practices, ClimateCare will be sponsoring and launching a variety of initiatives through the year. J.P. Morgan’s commercial cards team, in conjunction with ClimateCare, will be launching an offset corporate credit card this year. In addition to this, J.P. Morgan continues to offset all company air travel with 2009 being the second year running.
Other activities to look out for in the business arena include “Green Mondays”, the monthly event for corporate climate change leaders, which is sponsored by ClimateCare throughout 2010. The series of events bring together leading minds within the corporate environmental sustainability field over talks, round-tables and meetings: ClimateCare will be chairing the Carbon Management Strategies roundtable each month. For information on dates, speakers and how to apply, visit the
Green Business Events website.
A look at the projects you helped to fund throughout 2009
Thanks to the many businesses and individuals who bought ClimateCare carbon offsets online last year, we reduced tens of thousands of emission reductions through projects in the developing world. With innovative, even award-winning technologies and dedicated staff operating the projects, ClimateCare offsets have helped thousands of people, communities and businesses switch to renewable, sustainable sources of energy. Not only has this helped to reduce global emissions, but in many cases has improved the economic and social outlook for those involved.
The six projects that made up our 2009 online portfolio are all operational and range in status from one undergoing validation to several fully validated and their emission reductions verified by independent standards. The tonnage we have allocated to the 2009 portfolio can arise from different ‘vintages’ or years that the emission reduction takes place. As part of our continued emphasis on transparency we wanted to provide a brief status report on these projects, which are all progressing well:
Orb Solar
This project’s expected vintage is 2009. It is currently under validation with the Gold Standard and registration will follow afterwards. To date 4,795 solar units have been sold. By the end of 2014 it is estimated that sales will reach 34,000 units, each affording important emission reductions.
Nahar Biomass
This project, based in India, has 2009 portfolio tonnes verified to the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) from the project’s 2007 vintage. It continues to deliver emission reductions and is now registered on the APX VCS registry.
Mulan Wind
Emission reductions funded in our 2009 portfolio are taken from the verified vintages of 2007 and 2008. The tonnes from this project, a wind farm in China, are also verified to the VCS. The project is operational, registered on the APX VCS registry and continues to deliver emission reductions.
Mani Hydro
A second Chinese project within our 2009 portfolio, you helped to fund Mani hydro power emission reductions generated during 2008. Verification was done to the VCS and the project is therefore also registered on the APX VCS registry.
Cambodia Stoves
This project is deploying efficient stoves technology to communities in Cambodia, helping to transform the country’s cooking market. For our 2009 portfolio, VCS verified tonnes from 2006 and 2008 (vintages) were allocated and the project managers continue the dissemination of stoves throughout Cambodia. This project is registered on the Caisse des Dépôts VCS registry.
Rima Biomass
The final project, this portfolio’s only one based in South America, is a biomass power project with emission reductions verified from 2006. The project is verified to the VCS.
Land Rover success sees carbon offsetting programme launch in tenth market
In autumn 2009, Land Rover continued the global expansion of their carbon offsetting programme, initiated in 2006, by launching for the first time in the Asian marketplace. This expansion now means that all new Land Rovers sold in China and Japan include an offset for the first 72,000km, or approximately 3 years, of driving. As China is one of Land Rover’s biggest growth markets this is an important move for the consumer offsetting programme and one that shows continued emphasis on Land Rover's carbon management strategy while vital technological changes are made to their vehicles.
The launch in both Japan and China was accompanied by a full dealer briefing from Land Rover and ClimateCare staff, communicating the background and objectives of the programme, as well as local press conferences.
The offsets resulting from Land Rover’s global programme are funding a range of emission reduction projects and technologies around the world. Projects are operated to rigorous standards through the ClimateCare origination network and selected carefully by the programme’s Operating Committee. At present around half of the carbon offset projects being funded are located in China itself, therefore offering strong appeal to the Chinese market.
Land Rover, who regard sustainability strategy as integral to their business approach, have now launched their market-leading consumer offset programme in ten markets around the world in addition to offsetting all their manufacturing assembly emissions, a move accompanied by many other corporate social responsibility activities that aim to minimise their environmental impact. Those markets currently offering the carbon offset programme include the UK, France, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria and the Middle East.
Sustainability Strategy
The company’s sustainability plans over the last decade have already achieved significant improvements in their manufacturing efficiency. For each vehicle produced since 2002, for example, Land Rover has achieved a cut of 19% in energy use, 14% in water use and 20% of total waste. More specifically, with the objective of making significant emission cuts alongside their offset programme, every replacement model has lower emissions than its predecessor, and the company is jointly investing £800m in technology development designed to reduce emissions further. More information and Land Rover’s full sustainability report is provided on their sustainability web pages,
Our Planet.
Veronica Ochiltree of ClimateCare, who heads up the offsetting partnership, supported the launch and commended Land Rover’s integrated approach to sustainability, saying "Land Rover’s expansion of the offset programme re-iterates their commitment to the importance of offsetting and ensures that there are very significant emissions reductions being undertaken on behalf of both the organisation and their customers. The fact that this is only one part of a four pillar sustainability strategy, which has lead to internal emissions reductions and a major investment in new technology, ensures that this approach is considered and well rounded."
Uganda’s Kibale National Park reforestation project: a tale of success
In its early days ClimateCare funded the re-establishment of a rainforest with 30 or so native species of trees which, when mature, would be home to a number of endangered primates including chimpanzees. Much of the forest was destroyed in the 1970s and since the 1990s the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the FACE Foundation have been working to restore this deforested area.
A major barrier to the natural regeneration of the forest is the growth of elephant grass, which restricts sapling growth. Substantial research found that the grass must be cut by hand before planting the saplings and then at least three times a year until enough of a canopy is formed by the trees to shade out the sunlight. In October 2009 our team received positive and encouraging reports from the project managers, communicating successful forest growth and continued operations for the coming year.
Sowing the seeds
Image: ClimateCare
The park rangers have been working hard to prepare the next project area to be planted. Planting started in mid-October, with a total of 42,000 seedlings being required to plant the 105 hectares (an area equivalent to 4,038 standard-size tennis courts); this includes the number needed for ‘beating up’ (the replacement of weak or dead seedlings a few weeks after planting). In the past, all seedlings were raised in the project nurseries. However FACE foundation (managing the implementation) has been working alongside some of the local farmers to train them to run their own nurseries.
This season 32,000 seedlings were supplied by seven farmers and only 18,400 seedlings came from the project nurseries. Seeds are collected from the floor of the older forest areas or are bought on the market. Farmers grow a total of eight different seedling species, which generates additional income for them through seedling sales to Kibale and other reforestation projects. These farmers work on the project in the mornings, receive a hearty lunch and then continue with work on their own lands in the afternoons.
Returning visitors
The more established replanted areas are also doing well. A community of seven to eight chimpanzees has recently been sighted in one of the rehabilitation areas, away from the primary forest where they usually reside. The sighting suggests that the rehabilitated forest has become an integral part of the natural ecosystem. Elephants are also frequent visitors to the Kibale project area. They spend the day-time in the older forest areas but visit the rehabilitated forests during the night. Field research is currently underway, investigating whether these elephants are Plain elephants or the more rare African Forest elephants.
Introducing the Social Carbon® Standard
This year sees the first project to be enlisted on ClimateCare’s portfolio under the SocialCarbon® Standard. This ‘wrapper’ standard is usually used in conjunction with another standard such as the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) and was developed by a Brazilian NGO to strengthen the co-benefits of carbon offset projects. The standard provides additional transparency and credibility through periodic monitoring of six sustainability indicators (diagram below).
The six indicators assessed are social, human, financial, natural, biodiversity and carbon. Assessments based on these indicators are carried out at the beginning of the project to provide a baseline (Point Zero) and repeated over time to provide a moving picture of the contribution to sustainable development. To help illustrate this, a graphic representation of Social Carbon has been devised in the form of a hexagon diagram. Each corner of the hexagon represents one of the six resources that are assessed; as the plotted shape moves to the outer boundary of the hexagon, it indicates that access to resources is improving and therefore sustainability is increasing:
Brazil’s CO2 emissions are currently among the lowest in the world relative to population and economic size. However the carbon intensity of energy use in Brazil is on the rise and there has been a rapid acceleration in fossil fuel consumption in recent years, such as the substitution of charcoal with coke in the iron and steel industry. The carbon market has the potential to curb this emissions growth by making less-carbon intensive fuel choices more economically competitive with conventional fuels and increasing financial gains associated with improving energy and process efficiencies.
The project
A group of projects within Brazil’s ceramic industry are seeing a switch from unsustainable fuels to waste biomass for the firing of their ceramic production kilns. They are doing so through the adoption of the Social Carbon Standard (as a supplement to the Voluntary Carbon Standard for offset projects). The use of unsustainable fuels, including wood obtained through deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, is currently a prevalent practice among ceramics industries throughout the country. But carbon markets are enabling a shift towards renewable biomass materials for ceramic production including elephant grass, rice husk and native wood including Algaroba and eucalyptus from sustainably-managed forest areas.
Assunção Ceramic Fuel Switching Project
Up in the North East region of Brazil, Assunção Ceramic supplies structural ceramic units, mainly bricks, to the local market of Aquiraz and Fortaleza. The company has ten existing kilns for burning bricks, which will now be fired entirely by renewable biomass, replacing the 3,680m3 of non-sustainable wood used each month to sustain their high production volumes. The main goal of this project activity is to minimise the negative impacts of the deforestation of the Amazonian biome by offering viable alternatives.
Barro Forte Ceramic Fuel Switching Project
Another of the projects within this group will see Barro Forte Ceramic, located in Tacaimbó municipality, switch away from their current use of native wood from the Caatinga biome, one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. The project activity consists in utilising native wood, including Algaroba wood and MDF/wood residues from areas with a sustainable management plan, to feed the kilns.
Benefits beyond emissions
The set of 15 projects running under the Social Carbon Standard will see benefits beyond emission reductions that aim to transform the Brazilian ceramics market, including;
- Increased local job opportunities since the plants require more manpower than the pre-project scenario.
- The project will also encourage other ceramic businesses in Brazil to adopt such practices.
- The preservation of natural resources and prevention of deforestation of the Amazon.
- The procurement of waste materials from other operations such as local cashew nut harvesting will generate an extra revenue stream for related businesses.