The Ghana project aims sequester up to 33.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over its lifetime by restoring 51 kilo-hectares of degraded land
[SINGAPORE] A carbon project in Ghana, which has Temasek’s decarbonisation-focused investment platform among its investors, was one out of four that were awarded a contract by the Singapore government to offset its national emissions.
The Ghana project aims sequester up to 33.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over its lifetime by restoring 51 kilo-hectares of degraded land through direct polyculture planting, agroforestry and regenerative planting practices of native species.
GenZero had signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2023 with this project’s developer, AJA Climate Solutions, to invest US$30 million.
The other three projects are:
- A grassland restoration project in Paraguay through sustainable management practices.
- A forest protection programme at the Yanachaga Chemillen National Park and the San Matias–San Carlos Protection Forest in Peru.
- Another forest protection programme within Peru’s Madre De Dios region.
All four projects will generate 2.175 million carbon credits, which will be used to offset the same amount of carbon emissions, as part of efforts to meet Singapore’s 2030 climate target – known as nationally determined contributions – of reducing emissions to about 60 million tonnes.
The cost of these 2.175 million carbon credits amounted to around S$76 million, which will be used across 2026 to 2030, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) in a joint media release on Tuesday (Sep 16).
Singapore had launched a request for proposals pertaining to the purchase of nature-based carbon credits in September last year. It received bids totalling more than S$1.3 billion across 17 submissions when the tender closed in February this year.
MTI and NCCS said that nature-based solutions globally have the potential to offer net emissions reductions equivalent to more than 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year.
Singapore had sought to identify projects from around the world that could generate high-quality nature-based credits with high environmental integrity through this tender.
Key features of these four projects include ensuring additionality, low leakage risks, permanence and co-benefits to surrounding communities.
