Tricorona’s Gold Standard carbon offsets confirmed by UN, welcomed by Tällberg Foundation

The UN body CDM Executive Board has now confirmed that Tricorona’s Gold Standard CDM project Sri Balaji reduced carbon emissions in India by over 30 000 tons during 2008. This brings the total volume of offsets issued to Tricorona’s Gold Standard CDM projects to over 90 000 tons, more than twice as many as all other Gold Standard CDM projects combined.

“Gold Standard CDM is the most credible type of carbon offsetting,” says Anders Wijkman, vice chairman at Tällberg Foundation, which itself uses Sri Balaji for its carbon offsetting. “We welcome Tricorona’s efforts to raise the quality bar for carbon offsetting through its investments in Gold Standard projects.”

Sri Balaji uses agricultural waste, such as rice and cotton husks, to generate electricity in a modern biomass power station. By replacing coal-fired electricity, the project saves roughly 30 000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, along with hundreds of tons of other pollutants. The project also generates local employment opportunities and has contributed to local health and education initiatives.

“There’s a lot of talk about high quality offsetting, but this result shows that Tricorona actually delivers,” says Per Egstam, head of carbon offsetting at Tricorona. “That so many of our projects have now been confirmed by both the UN and the environmental movement’s Gold Standard is a welcome confirmation of our focus on quality.”

Sri Balaji has been chosen for carbon offsetting by customers such as Fortum, Hertz, Tällberg Foundation, the Swedish Post Office, Swedish Television, the Swiss Development Corporation, the United Nations Foundation and Volvo Cars.

Tricorona continues to expand its Gold Standard CDM portfolio, with projects in Colombia, China, Honduras, Kenya, Peru and Turkey. These projects – which are in many cases built on Swedish cleantech products – are expected to generate carbon reductions of hundreds of thousands of tons during 2009 and millions of tons thereafter.

For more information, please contact Per Egstam, Tricorona Climate Partner, +46-8-506 88 559.

Gold Standard (www.cdmgoldstandard.org ) is a certification program backed by environmental organisations that aims to identify carbon offset projects with the highest contribution to sustainable development. Gold Standard’s carbon offset database is available at https://gs1.apx.com/myModule/rpt/myrpt.asp?r=114 and information from the UN about Sri Balaji is available at http://cdm.unfccc.int/Projects/DB/DNV-CUK1144412972.08/view.