World Bank buys carbon credits from Philippine bank

The World Bank has signed a 2.4 million euro ($3.5 million) emission reduction purchase agreement for a project that will reduce methane emissions generated by landfills and livestock farms from the Land Bank of the Philippines. The agreement will take effect from 2010 to 2013. The bank will purchase the carbon credits on behalf of the Spanish Carbon Fund to encourage investments in other climate change mitigation efforts.

The methane recovery from waste management project aims to help curb down methane gas, estimated to account for nearly one-third of greenhouse gas emissions in the South East Asian country. The project will be managed and implemented by state-owned Land Bank. It will provide incentives for piggeries and landfill operators to adopt cleaner technologies that capture methane and use it as fuel to generate electricity.

In addition, the project will assist in introducing technologies in the country to manage the 14 million tons of solid waste and 22 million tons of organic wastewater it produces each year.

Land Bank said in October it will purchase certified emission reduction credits from methane collected from a sanitary landfill owned by the VG Puyat Group of Companies in the province of Bulacan. Gilda Pico, the bank’s president, said they are the first bank in the country to sell carbon credits from a Clean Development Mechanism registered project.