Today, UPM’s most respected Sichuan Household Biogas Development Programmereceived its second issuance of carbon credits. This time, almost 390,000 Gold Standard Certified Emission Reductions (GS CERs) have been transferred to UPM.

Each of these certificates endorses the reduction of one ton of CO2 plus multiple co-benefits for now nearly 1.5 million members of rural households in Sichuan. The PoA’s main advantages are the following:

• The fuel switch towards climate friendly and convenient biogas ends the problematic dependency on expensive and dirty fossil fuels, such as inferior coal.
• Superior quality organic fertilizer generated in the biodigesters brings about higher agricultural output and better products.
• Significant savings of time required for fuel supply and cooking are a major plus especially for female family members traditionally in charge of these activities.
• Increased revenue from the sale of agricultural products and considerable savings of energy costs lead to a substantial increase of available household income.
• Many new qualified jobs, both permanent and temporary, are created in the region for installation and maintenance of biodigesters and cook stoves.
• Efficient and smoke-free cook stoves massively reduce indoor air pollution and related eye and respiratory diseases. These are still a major concern for women and children spending most of their time at home.
• Much better environmental, sanitary and hygienic conditions resulting from the use of closed biodigester tanks strongly prevent infectious diseases and avoid water pollution.
• Less need for firewood effectively protects biodiversity and preserves valuable carbon sinks in Sichuan.

As per today, according to official UNFCCC CDM statistics, only ten PoAs worldwide have achieved a CER issuance at all, and thereof, only four, including UPM’s PoA, have also been registered with the Gold Standard. Thus, the Sichuan Household Biogas PoA belongs to an exclusive top-tier group of climate protection programmes that are able to produce large amounts of highly valuable GS CERs in a reliable way. Since we will continue to add new CPA subprojects, we expect this PoA to generate even larger volumes of carbon credits in the years going forward.

The issued climate protection certificates of our PoA are immediately available and can be purchased anytime from interested companies and institutions to offset their unavoidable GHG emissions. The PoA’s GS CERs are the ideal choice if a carbon offset strategy puts particular emphasis on massive climate protection, the promotion of sustainable development and direct support of underprivileged farmer families in rural Sichuan.

Your contacts at UPM for the Sichuan Household Biogas PoA and its GS CERs are:

Martin Dilger, Managing Director, UPM Germany
mdilger(at)upm-cdm.eu, T: +49 89 1222197 – 50

and

Gaiai Guo, Vice General Manager, UPM China
guog(at)upm-cdm.eu, T: +86 10 6468 0500 – 13