Green light for MTN carbon emissions project
MTN has received approval from the Department of Energy to register a carbon credit project with the United Nations.
The project, which creates electricity, cooling and heating from Egoli Gas, is the first project of its type in Africa and the first time this technology has been submitted to the UN for approval as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project, MTN says.
The mobile operator says it has also entered into a commercial arrangement to sell its carbon credits to French-based electricity supplier, EDF Trading.
The credits will be produced by MTN’s tri-generation plant at 14th Avenue office park in Fairland, Johannesburg.
Carbon credits are awarded to countries or groups that have reduced their green house gases below their emission quota. Carbon credits can be traded in the international market at their current market price.
“The project is undergoing validation, the next step in the process, to be registered at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a CDM project. This means that MTN can now sell its carbon credits in the open market. The approval granted by both governments is an important step in this process,” said Robbie Louw, a director of Promethium Carbon, a carbon advisory firm.
“EDF Trading will use the carbon credits to contribute to compliance of their quantified greenhouse gas emission reduction targets of the Kyoto Protocol and European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS),” said Louw.
South Africa’s Department of Energy’s Designation National Authority (DNA) for the CDM is the authorised body in terms of South Africa’s compliance with the Kyoto Protocol that issues letters of approval for CDM projects.
This is in line with South Africa and France having ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC) and being signatories to the Kyoto Protocol, complying with its international obligations, MTN said.
The gas used in the project is sourced from Sasol’s pipeline in Mozambique, displacing electricity from Eskom. The plant uses trigeneration technology, which is the concurrent production of electricity, heating and cooling. The plant can provide power, hot water, space heating and cooling for air conditioning from this single gas source.
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