Beijing, July 5, 2007 - The World Bank has signed its first greenhouse gas reductions agreement in China from a landfill gas project. The Shuangkou Landfill Gas Project located in Tianjin Municipality will recover landfill gas from the Shuangkou landfill and utilize the recovered gas for electricity generation.
The landfill was the first modern sanitary landfill in Tianjin and receives an average of 800-1000 tons of household waste a day. By the end of 2006 more than 1.6 million tons of household waste had been landfilled. The project developer, Tianjin Clean Energy and Environmental Engineering Company Ltd (TCEE) will collect landfill gas, half of it methane which has 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, with the other half made up of carbon dioxide and other gases. It will generate electricity by installing a landfill gas collection system, an electricity generation system and a gas flaring system on site. Under the agreement signed with the World Bank, TCEE will sell 635,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emission reductions to the Spanish Carbon Fund managed by the World Bank.
"Tianjinis the first landfill gas project the Bank has done in China and is a prototype of what could be",said Greg Browder, Senior Environmental Engineer and Task Leader of the project. "There are 87 cities in China with a population of one million or more. The residents of these and other large cities discard significant quantities of waste that will emit methane in a disposal site. The potential for landfill gas projects like Tianjin is enormous."
The landfill gas project is expected to start by early 2008. The gas will be collected in pipes from a series of wells where waste has been deposited. The collected gas will be transported in pipes to a central facility where it will be burned to produce electricity for sale to the North China Power Grid.
"As a renewable energy project, the Tianjin Shuangkou Landfill Gas project will provide societal, economical and environmental benefits and result in a positive impact on global climate", said the head of Tianjin Clean Energy and Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd. " With its approval in China and with the emission reductions purchase agreement signed, the project is now on its way to being registered as a Clean Development Mechanism project."
Landfill gas is the fourth largest contributor to non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions. Landfill gas recovery and use for energy can make an important contribution to reducing methane emissions.
ANNEX 1:
The Kyoto Protocol and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
The Kyoto Protocol provides an opportunity for the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time help developing countries and economies in transition invest in climate friendly technologies and infrastructure. The Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) provide an element of flexibility for the industrialized countries to meet their obligations under the Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by on average 5.2 percent below their 1990 levels by 2010. In so doing, the Protocol provides an incentive for those seeking lower cost emission reductions to leverage the flow of private capital and privately-held clean technology from North to South.
ANNEX 2:
The Carbon Finance Business
Carbon finance is the general term applied to financing that seeks to purchase greenhouse gas emission reductions (“carbon” for short) to offset emissions in the OECD. Commitments of carbon finance for the purchase of carbon have grown rapidly since the first carbon purchases began less than 10 years ago. Volumes are expected to continue to grow as countries that have already ratified the Kyoto Protocol work to meet their commitments, and as national and regional markets for emission reductions are put into place. Trading started in the European Union in January 2005 with the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
ANNEX 3
TianjinClean Energy and Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd. (TCEE)
Shuangkou landfill is under the control of the Tianjin Solid Waste Treatment Centre, which is a division under the Tianjin Environmental Sanitation Commission. TCEE is a newly formed company under the Tianjin Construction Commission, and authorized jointly by Construction Commission and Environmental Sanitation Commission to implement Shuangkou landfill gas recovery and utilization project as the project developer and operator, and as the project emission reductions seller.
ANNEX 4
The Spanish Carbon Fund
The Spanish Carbon Fund (SCF) is the carbon buyer of this project. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“World Bank”), as Trustee of the Spanish Carbon Fund, signed the emission reductions purchase agreement with the project developer, TCEE. The Spanish Carbon Fund (SCF) was created in 2005. With a capital base of US$202.7 million, the SCF will purchase greenhouse gas emission reductions from projects developed under the Kyoto Protocol to mitigate climate change. The SCF will promote renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.
