Dec 9, 2009

World Bank fund points way for Africa

2009 Dec 9

COPENHAGEN — The World Bank said yesterday that its experience in financing climate change investment projects over the past decade had shown the facility was the best way Africa could contribute to slowing global warming.

“We have seen a profound impact of some of the projects in Africa in their ability to create employment and enable access to energy,” said Martina Bosi, senior carbon finance specialist at the World Bank.

Climate change investment projects refer to projects that help reduce or avoid the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, an arrangement known as the clean development mechanism.

The World Bank set up the global carbon finance fund in 2000. Since then, its clean development mechanism fund has grown from 160m to 2,5bn. The fund has provided capital for the private sector to participate in efforts to mitigate climate change.

The fund buys carbon dioxide emission reductions , also known as carbon credits, from projects. It is, for example, the purchaser of 700000 tons of carbon credits from the first landfill gas to energy project registered under the clean development mechanism at the Marianhill and La Mercy landfills in Durban.

The fund is also working with the Green Belt Movement, a global environmental group based in Kenya, to finance tree planting on 1876ha of degraded public and private land.

The fund is the principal backer of a project to expand a geothermal power plant, Olkaria II, in Kenya.

The expanded plant will add 35MW to the current 70MW output, displacing electricity generated from fossil fuel thermal power plants estimated to produce 150000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

Read more: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=89131

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