International carbon credits are a complex market regulated by international agreements. To demonstrate how they work in practice, Zero Carbon Project has decided to launch our own purchasing programme. Each week, we will purchase and cancel international carbon credits from different carbon emission reducing projects.

We will purchase 30 units which is enough to cover the annual carbon emissions from about 10 typical households. This will support the reduction of 30 tonnes of carbon emissions entering the atmosphere.

We will announce our purchase and the projects we supported to our community, along with an explanation of different aspects and issues of the carbon markets.

This week we purchased carbon credits to offset emissions from the equivalent of 10 typical households, for a small cost of USD11.40. This involved purchasing 30 carbon credits directly from the cheapest source, which was a project selling CERs for USD0.38/tonne. It was a hydroelectric power project in Jorethang, India. The project details can be viewed at https://offset.climateneutralnow.org/jorethang-loop-hydroelectric-project-india-1326-

Jorethang hydroelectric project in India

“Certified emission reductions or CERs are electronic certificates issued for greenhouse gas emission reductions from clean development mechanism (CDM) project activities or programmes of activities (PoAs) in accordance with the CDM rules and requirements. Each CER is equivalent to one metric tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2e) avoided or removed from the atmosphere.

The clean development mechanism (CDM) is one of the flexible mechanisms that developed countries can use in meeting their targets under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). CDM allows the implementation of projects that avoid or remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere. For each tonne of emissions that is removed or avoided, the CDM issues one CER subject to international verification process.

CDM projects are set out to achieve two goals: (a) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and (b) to support sustainable development in developing countries.”

(Quote sourced from https://offset.climateneutralnow.org/faq_offset_footprint)

We transacted the purchase and cancellation of the CERs across the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework convention on Climate Change) website platform, called Climate Neutral Now https://offset.climateneutralnow.org , which is an initiative launched by the UN Climate Change in 2015. Climate Neutral Now aims at encouraging and supporting all levels of society to take climate action to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century, as enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

We will publish the certificate once we receive it in the next few days.

Please visit our website at www.zerocarbonproject.com and join the conversation at our telegram channel https://t.me/ZeroCarbonProject