Greenhouse gas credits from social entities in Catalonia go on sale

Since July 8, Sendeco2, a company specialized in the sale of emission rights, acts as an intermediary by putting on the market – at a price of 10 euros each – 4,256 tons of CO₂ that have their origin in emission reduction projects carried out by entities, associations, foundations and NGOs that develop a social task in Catalonia.

4,256 tons of _CO2, equivalent to 4,256 credits of greenhouse gases (GHG). Tons that have been verified and quantified as part of the Voluntary Program for Compensation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, promoted by the General Directorate of Environmental Quality and Canvi Climàtic of the Department of Territory and Sustainability of the Generalitat de Catalunya, through the Catalan Office of Climate Canvi (OCCC)

The program has two characteristics that make it unique both in Spain and in Europe. On the one hand, it seeks to stimulate compensation, via the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the local level and not in third countries, as is more common. The program does this by carrying out within the Autonomous Community reduction projects based on internationally applied methodologies. Projects that will improve environmental quality and public health.

The second characteristic is the social origin of the credits that we have mentioned above. The promoters are entities that develop a social task in Catalonia, and have presented emission reduction projects to obtain income that contributes to finance a part of the cost of the projects.

Verified emission reductions

The 4,256 GHG credits put up for sale – and that is equivalent to 4,256 tons of CO₂, equivalent to 4,256 cars that circulate 10,000km per year – correspond to the reductions achieved by projects approved and executed in the calls of the Program of the years 2016 and 2017 and that have been verified during 2018.

The social entities that have executed projects in Catalonia and that put their GHG credits for sale are: Fundació Banc del Aliments (delegations of Barcelona, Lleida and Girona), Ecosol economia solidària, Fundació Sant Hospital de la Seu d’Urgell, Fundació Autisme Mas Casadevall, Fundació St. Paul’s, Fundació la Caritat i Fundació La Vall

Overall, the actions carried out include avoiding food waste; the replacement of diesel or propane boilers with biomass boilers or solar panels; improving the energy performance of buildings; the replacement of diesel vehicles with other electric vehicles and district heatings or heat islands with renewables.

What should buyers do?

Companies interested in offsetting GHG emissions derived from their activity may do so by contacting Sendeco2, which is the only entity that collaborates in the purchase and sale of GHG credits through the following email compensacionscat@sendeco2.com The GHG credits of the Program are finalists, that is, they only serve to offset the non-reduced emissions of the buyer, but they cannot be resold or speculated on.

Once the purchase of the GHG credits is formalized, the buyer receives an official certificate of purchase and cancellation of GHG credits of the Program issued by the Catalan Office of Canvi Climàtic. The certificate of the Program guarantees that the reduction of GHG emissions has been done following a strict methodology, with international standards, ensuring additionality and avoiding double accounting. In addition, buying credits in this Program also ensures that the project has had a beneficial social impact for the whole of Catalan society.

Sale through a general credit exchange system

The sale of the 4,256 GHG credits is carried out through a general credit exchange system. That is, buyers do not acquire GHG credits from a specific project but acquire GHG credits from the general stock exchange. This bag is formed by the set of tons of _CO2 reduced by each project and each promoter is remunerated in the same proportion as the GHG credits it has contributed.

Source: Retema