Dutch Bank to Offer Carbon Credits to Brazilian Farmers

Last year, we wrote about how Dutch bank Rabobank was introducing a new "carbon credit card." Now the bank has another innovative scheme to help jump-start the carbon credit market. In a pilot program to launch next month, Rabobank will offer a carbon credits scheme to encourage reforestation in the Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon, the Financial Times reports. The initiative is based on a new, voluntary, conservation-based land registry and is part of broader efforts in the region to align farmers and ranchers with legal requirements to conserve forests on their land, which are often illegally logged.

The Dutch bank will provide $83,000 (€56,000, £40,000) to eight soy farms and cattle ranches in the Xingu region in Mato Grosso state. The credits, which each represent one ton of carbon dioxide, can be sold to companies or individuals looking to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. So far most of the demand for credits is coming from European companies. The credits are valued at $2-$15 each, depending on the project.

The bank says that if the pilot is successful, the amount of finance offered may rise to several million dollars a year during the next few years. The carbon credits generated will then be sold on the voluntary carbon credit market.:: Via Financial Times