ACCIONA, GARRIGUES and CM CAPITAL MARKETS neutralize Carbon Expo 2009 emissions

Carbon Expo 2009, the world’s largest climate change fair, neutralized its emissions by 148 tons of CO2 equivalent.

GARRIGUES MEDIO AMBIENTE, the GARRIGUES environmental consulting firm, was in charge of offsetting the emissions inventory during this event. For this purpose, the electric power and natural gas consumption of the all of the facilities used throughout the stages of setting up, holding and dismantling the fair, as well as the fossil fuels used for running the equipment and the fluorinated gases given off by the air conditioning systems were taken into account.

For neutralizing the emissions, GARRIGUES purchased voluntary emission reductions from ACCIONA for their removal and subsequent neutralization. CM CAPITAL MARKETS brokered this transaction.

The 148 tons purchased were Voluntary Carbon Units, the best quality standard of voluntary emission reduction units on the market. These emissions, registered in the APX registry, were from a 29.7 MW wind farm located in Karnataka, India, registered as a CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) on November 20, 2008. This wind facility was developed and is currently owned by ACCIONA Wind Energy Pvt. Ltd. (AWEPL).

This endeavor stands as fine proof of the carbon market leadership of all three companies involved:

• For the past ten years, GARRIGUES has been promoting a holistic approach to climate change. Its multidisciplinary team serves a wide range of clients through an international network of offices and alliances. In addition to carbon offsetting, it provides services including integral CDM/JI-related assistance, carbon financing, GEI inventories and strategic climate change assessment. To date, GARRIGUES has provided its clients with consultancy in over 500 environmental and climate change projects, 80 of which were CDM and JI projects; it has also aided toward several projects having been registered with the United Nations (the first of which was the “Las Vacas” hydropower plant on December 17, 2005).
• ACCIONA is a leader in the renewable energies field. It has installed wind power totalling 7,291 MW, of which it owns 5,819 MW, in 252 wind farms in 14 countries and manufactures wind turbines with proprietary technology. ACIONA has concentrating solar plants, photovoltaic plants, hydroelectric plants and biomass plants, plus its biodiesel and bioethanol production plants. ACCIONA is fully aware of the importance of this renewable energies endeavor as a mitigating effort in the fight against Climate Change, estimating its renewable energy-based power generation business in 2008 to have made it possible to reduce emissions by nearly 5.5 million tons of CO2. This company is actively involved in the designed schemes recognizing this contribution to the generation of different types of emission reduction credits. Hence, it has registered wind projects as MDLs in Mexico, India and Korea within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol. It is also currently in the process of VCS (Voluntary Carbon Standard) validation of a wind power project in the U.S. Its wind power business in Alberta, Canada is also generating marketable emission reductions within this province’s designed scheme of obligations.
• CM CAPITAL MARKETS is ranked as a carbon market leader, providing its services to a wide range of clients nationwide and internationally. Its prime objective has been the integration of the financial and environmental realms. With this aim, CM Capital Markets provides its clients with the following services through its Energy & Carbon Emissions Trading Department: financial management on the different carbon markets, advisory for the companies affected by the European emissions trading system and consultancy for Kyoto Protocol flexibility mechanism projects. Currently, CM Capital Markets is collaborating with different energy industry companies having gained leading market positions through signing major agreements for carrying out CMD and JI projects, from the earliest stages of getting the projects under way up to the resulting sale of the carbon credits generated.