NBP receives the first issue of Gold Standard Carbon Credits

The National Biodigester Programme (NBP) in Cambodia receives the first issue of Gold Standard Carbon Credits as a result of the programme's first monitoring report covering the period of 24/05/09 till 31/08/10. The methodology followed is the Gold Standard, indicative programme, baseline, and monitoring methodology for Small Scale Biodigester Voluntary Gold Standard.

NBP is the result of a joint venture between the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and SNV. The issue of the first GS VERs is the result of a long process. During the preparation phase of NBP in 2005 a carbon Project Idea Note (PIN) was developed and based on this, negotiations were held with the World Bank on a joint CER project. This was followed by a carbon baseline survey in 2006.

CERs became for domestic biogas unattractive after 2005 as a combination of fuel switch with methane recovery from manure management was no longer allowed by the International Board of the UNFCCC and NBP decided to put carbon project development on the backburner. For NBP however it was still important to look for carbon alternatives to come to long-term financing of the programme costs.

Since 2007 NBP has an agreement with the Hivos Climate Fund on the sale of VERs generated by the programme. The VER option is attractive as fuel switch and methane capture can be combined and there is no thermal ceiling on the power output of the bundled biodigesters.

To improve the market value of the VERs, Gold Standard registration was sought in 2009 with the development of a PDD, Gold Standard Passport and Stakeholder Consultation Report in line with the GS approved methodology. A DOE validation of the methodology was done by the middle of 2010 and the first monitoring report was submitted for verification by September 2010. Gold Standard registration followed in May 2011 and finally the first monitoring report was accepted in November.

The verification of the 2nd monitoring report will be done in March 2012 with a total of about 60,000 VERs. This will be followed by the registration of a second 7-year crediting period. With the experiences of the first validation and verification, it is hoped that the new process will go smoother and above all, faster.

With the present VER market condition, NBP expects to have all programme costs, including subsidy, covered out of carbon revenues when 45,000 biodigesters are in operation. This can be achieved by 2018 when the present plant construction figures are maintained.