At the launching ceremony (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has launched more than 1 million voluntary carbon credits from household biogas plants to the international market as part of the Biogas Programme for the Animal Husbandry Sector in 2016-2020.
The number of credits represents the equal reduction of 1 million tonnes of CO2.
Speaking at the launching ceremony in Hanoi on June 26, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam said the project has the largest number of voluntary carbon credits in the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the biogas sector.
It is a special project that contributed over 50 percent of the total expenses for implementation, he said.
Vietnam along with other nations joining the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change submitted the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP 21, in Paris in 2015.
The Southeast Asian country has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent in 2030 compared with conventional development scenarios, which could be reduced up to 25 percent if receiving international financial and technological support.
Looking towards sustainable agricultural production, green growth, climate change adaptation and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is one of the prioritized missions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tam said.
Tong Xuan Chinh, Deputy Director of the ministry’s Department of Livestock, said the animal husbandry sector contributes 6 percent of the country’s gross domestic products (GDP) and this is a great source to increase local incomes and reduce poverty.
The overall goal of the project is developing a market-oriented biogas sector and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production through supporting the construction of biogas plants in households.
From 2013 to 2017, the country built over 170,000 biogas facilities across 55 cities and provinces.
He described environmental protection as a key issue in the sector’s sustainable development orientations.
The management of solid waste is challenging but it also presents an opportunity to create renewable energy and organic fertilizer, he said, adding that the treatment of solid waste through biogas technology is considered the most effective solution.
Carbon credit is known as a permit that allows a country or organization to produce a certain amount of carbon emissions that can be traded if the full allowance is not used.
The Biogas Programme for the Animal Husbandry Sector has been carried out in Vietnam since 2003 thanks to the official development assistance (ODA) of the Netherlands government.
In 2016, the project issued more than 1.2 million carbon credits, raking in 2.5 million USD.
In April 2018, the Gold Standard certified that the project had over 2.36 million carbon credits issued. -VNA
VNA
