November 19, 2010
On October 28th, South Pole Carbon´s hydro plant project issued the first credits validated against the Social Carbon Standard outside of its native Brazil.
The standard has been developed by Brazil’s Ecologica Institute and evaluates carbon emission reduction projects based on their contribution to sustainable development and local participation. The Social Carbon Standard offers project developers the opportunity to center their attention on how projects benefit communities- now and in the future.
The South Pole project is a bundle of some 100 small- and micro-scale hydro plants spread across four southwestern Chinese provinces. The plants generate sustainable energy for rural areas, therefore replacing fossil-fuel power from the grid and reducing the use of firewood. The scheme can reduce CO2 emissions by 500,000 tonnes annually, and the reduction of the first 92,000 tonnes have now been approved by Social Carbon.
The project has been validated and registered under the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), and targets voluntary buyers world-wide.
South Pole has pledged to invest parts of the project’s revenue in local community projects. “A portion of the revenues from the project will fund the implementation of hygienic composting toilets and agricultural education programs for adults, in a second step, revenues shall be used to establish a disaster relief fund.” The company said. These investments show how carbon revenues can help in adaptation, as the project region periodically suffers from landslides and other natural catastrophes linked to climate change.
Zeckau told Point Carbon News South Pole is working on other similar projects in the same region.