Danish Ambassador to Thailand, Ulrik Helweg-Larsen, on behalf of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has signed a trade agreement with a Thai palm oil producing company from Suratthani, southern Province of Thailand, on purchase of carbon credits.
Carbon credits are traded as part of the international Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which promotes activities that limit emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. By that means this mechanism is to help reduce climate change.
The agreement concerns a project on installation of wastewater treatment systems in order to treat the wastewater generated from the palm oil extraction process. It involves the installation of a closed-tank wastewater treatment system. Biogas will be extracted and most of it used for generation of electricity to be sold to the national grid. The project activity will help reduce the amount of methane, which would otherwise be emitted from the open lagoon into the atmosphere.
The utilization of the biogas for power generation will reduce the use of fissile fuel, further reducing the GHG emissions. The total amount of emission reductions (ERs) to be delivered by the project activity is estimated to be approximately 140,000 tons of CO2 equivalents.
This is one of the first companies introducing this new technology for wastewater treatment in a full-scale setting in Thailand.
The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is preparing to sign additional CDM agreements with other Thai companies in the near future.
