Today, UPM has obtained Gold Standard registration for its groundbreaking Sichuan Rural Poor-Household Biogas Development Programme of Activities (PoA) in China (GS ID 1239). It is the first PoA in China with the Gold Standard and only the seventh worldwide at all.

Throughout its entire lifespan of 28 years, this programme will reduce approximately 20 million tCO₂e and bring about large sustainable development benefits for up to 1 million participating low-income farmer households in selected least developed rural areas of China’s Sichuan province. The PoA will avoid methane emissions by replacing the existing manure pits of the pig barns with modern biogas digesters. All recovered methane will be utilized for cooking to reduce the coal consumption of each household considerably.

Successful Gold Standard registration of this PoA is an important achievement for UPM, since it gives us the opportunity to generate both regular CDM CERs for mandatory carbon markets, as well as premium priced Gold Standard CERs for voluntary carbon offsetting. This dual carbon standard approach significantly improves the commercialization perspectives of this programme. - Martin Dilger, Managing Director of UPM GmbH in Munich

With roundabout 400,000 installed biogas digesters by the end of 2012 and another 100,000 digesters to be added per year, programme implementation is well on track. The same applies to CPA inclusion which has already started in 2012 and is carried through by TÜV Nord CERT GmbH. All in all, the PoA foresees the inclusion of up to 200 CPAs, each with an annual credit volume of approximately 10,000 CDM or GS CERs. First credit issuance is scheduled for late 2013.

For further information on this PoA and the availability of its carbon credits, please contact:

Henning Huenteler, General Manager, UPM China, hhuenteler(at)upm-cdm.eu, T: +86 10 6468 0500-16

For Gold Standard information and related documentation on this PoA, please visit the Markit Environmental Registry.