14 January 2009: Bert Hofman, Country Director, World Bank Philippine Country Office, has signed the Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement (ERPA) for the Roxol Ethanol Plant Wastewater Treatment and Methane Gas Recovery Project under the World Bank-managed Community Development Carbon Fund Facility.

The World Bank is managing a number of carbon fund facilities, which are capitalized by developed countries and private companies to purchase carbon emission reduction credits from developing countries under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. Greenhouse gas emissions reductions will be achieved through the adoption of a cleaner and more efficient technology for the treatment of the ethanol plant’s wastewater. The project will avoid the emission of methane from the ethanol plant’s wastewater by collecting it instead of releasing it in the atmosphere, as is usually done in an open lagoon system, the cheapest method of treating distillery wastewater. The collected methane will be used to power the ethanol plant’s boiler, thus displacing traditional and more polluting bunker fuel. The project is also expected to bring benefits to the local communities through the project’s Community Benefits Plan, which will be funded from the premium of US$1/ton of carbon emission reduced by the project. Three poor communities immediately surrounding the project area have been selected to be the beneficiaries of the additional resources earmarked for the Community Benefits Plan. [World Bank Press Release]