Suriname steps towards world’s first carbon credit scheme

Suriname prepares carbon credit scheme

PARAMARIBO, October 13, 2023 – Suriname has set the price for its state-backed carbon capture credit scheme in a bid to raise up to USD 144 million, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Each credit will cost USD 30. One credit is equivalent to 1 tonne of carbon dioxide emissions.

The carbon credit system was set up under the United Nations Paris Agreement in 2015. It sets a framework for countries to sell internationally transferable mitigation outcomes or ITMOs to other countries or companies.

Suriname’s baseline is based on the carbon stock of its forests, which cover 93% of the county.

The nation registered its emissions reductions at 4.8 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent for 2021 to the UN programme REDD+.

According to Surinamese Minister of Spatial Planning and Environment Marciano Dasai, funds raised will be put towards employment of local workers to patrol forested areas and provide an alternative to illegal logging and gold mining activities. .

“We can lessen deforestation, that will contribute to the world because we will absorb all the CO2 the world is producing,” Dasai said.

“And if all the rainforest nations can do this, we have less of a problem concerning CO2.”

South America’s smallest nation is one of few countries in the world to claim carbon-negative status.

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