8 September 2011
IDB to Support Establishment of Voluntary Carbon Market in Colombia
story highlights

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a US$10.5 million project to create a market for offsets created by Colombian projects in the industrial, agriculture and forest sectors.

The project aims to achieve over half a million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over four years.

IDB5 September 2011: The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$10.5 million project to establish a system of Verified Emissions Reductions (VERs) in Colombia, with the aim of cutting over half a million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over four years through a voluntary trading system.

The project will be partially financed with a US$2.7 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and co-financed by the Natura Foundation, the Colombian Mercantile Exchange and the Bogota Chamber of Commerce. The project will create a national voluntary market platform for trading VERs generated in Colombia. It will also focus on validating and registering a stock of VERs generated by agriculture, forestry, and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD) projects in Colombia; as well as voluntary mitigation and offsetting by the corporate and institutional sectors. Financial incentives, along with training and support, will enable private companies to better calculate, monitor, manage and mitigate their carbon footprint. [IDB Press Release]