Offset Projects
As part of our carbon neutral journey, we have invested in several offset projects around the world. These projects are symbolic of how much commercial weight we at The Nurture Group are investing in the future of our planet.
Below is a summary of projects we have invested in to date:
Natural Gas Based Power Generation, Kothapeta, India
Project Details
The project activity claims emission reductions by the usage of cleaner fuel i.e natural gas for electricity generation. The project is grid connected natural gas based Combined Cycle Power Plant. The power plant comprises of 2 x 140 MW natural gasrun turbines, two heat recovery steam generators and a 165 MW steam turbine. The generated power will be exported to the Southern India Grid, through the State Government owned Andhra Pradesh Transmission Corporation of India Ltd.
In the absence of the project activity, the same quantity of power would have been produced from Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) intensive fossil fuel i.e coal. Since natural gas is energy intensive fuel, it emits less GHGs comparatively for the same quantity of power generated.
Co-Benefits
Social and Economic: The project activity generates employment opportunities to the local people both directly and indirectly during various stages of its implementation viz construction phase, erection and commissioning and during commercial operation. The project activity also brings about infrastructural developments to that region like better road facilities, communication networks, access to health centres and educational institutions etc.
Employment opportunities due to the project activity improve he living standards of the people in the region. Successful implementation of the project activity would result in new schools/colleges, hospitals, commercial establishments and other related engineering firms in the region. Further, access to green funding for the clean project will attract other investors to initiate green projects of this scale at large.
Additionality & Permanence
Total Emissions Reductions: the total annual emissions reductions resulting from the project are estimated at 1,358,857 tC02e. Through the generation of 445 MW power, this project actively meets the electricity demand of the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh. The project is additional in this regard to any alternative fuel source that would occur in the absence of the project activity.
Permanence: the project has proved successful in a fragmented policy environment and by limited leakage risks due to a robust accounting methodology. The project also overcomes over-crediting risk by following a conservative approach as defined by the VCS methodology. For this, the method requires that project proponents use the lowest emission factor for baseline emissions from three options: build margin, combined margin or emission factor of the technology (and fuel) identified as the most likely baseline scenario (coal/lignite in this case). Also, the methodology requires that upstream emissions are considered from sources such as production, transportation, distribution, and liquefaction, re-gasification and compression into a transmission system. In general, technology-based projects are considered to face minimal reversal risk and are thus not required to contribute to a risk buffer pool.
Caz Redd+ Madagascar
The CAZ project aims to reduce deforestation and forest degradation of primary Malagasy forest by creating a corridor to protect the remaining native forests between the Zahamena National Park and the forests collectively known as “Ankeniheny” in central eastern Madagascar. In addition to protecting forest and stocked carbon, CAZ will protect one of the planet’s most important sites for biodiversity conservation and provide a protected biological corridor that links 3 existing protected areas: Zahamena national park, Manongarivo special reserve and Mantadia national park.
Through the creation of a protected area, the project is reducing green house gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). It is one of the first REDD initiatives in Africa.
The CAZ carbon project covers 370,032 hectares of Madagascar’s eastern humid rainforest and provides important ecosystem services to both the surrounding area and greater region. It protects the headwaters of eight large rivers that directly supply approximately 325,000 residents with water.
Cikel Brazilian Amazon Redd Project
The CIKEL Brazilian Amazon REDD APD Project aims to avoid emissions from planned deforestation on a property in Paragominas Municipality, Para state, Brazil.
The main activity of the CIKEL Brazilian Amazon REDD APD Project is the cancelation of the planned deforestation activities and decision to instead conserve the forest area and continue limited forest management activities in the area under Forest Stewardship Council® Certification (FSC®) with Low Impact Logging (SFMLIL) practices.
Also, the company is intensifying and improving its practices to support the sustainable social development, maintaining and improving the biodiversity monitoring at the RCC in the framework of FSC certification and REDD activities.
The project will avoid 9,432,299 tCO2 that would have been emitted into the atmosphere over the next ten years.
Gunare: Afforestation - Urugay
The project located in eastern Uruguay consists of approximately twenty two thousand hectares of land. The aim of the project is to convert degraded grassland with a long history of cattle grazing into beneficial forest plantations which will aid in restoring the land, by improving soil quality through water retention and delivery of micronutrients to the soil, and by preventing soil erosion.
Well managed forest plantations can obtain high value, long-lived timber products while sequestering large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Approximately 7 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) will be sequestered through afforestation of the project which has been verified by the international standard under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).
Weyerhauser: Afforestation - Uruguay
The project comprises a total of 18,191ha of land previously under extensive grazing by beef cattle on which forest plantations were established in order to obtain high-value, long-lived timber products and to sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The project will result in a significant contribution to sustainable development of Uruguay, mainly through: i) increasing employment and quality of employment; ii) rural development (decentralization);iii) increasing gross value of production; iv) improving fiscal balance; v) biodiversity preservation and vi) improvement and preservation of soil quality.
The project activity consists of the establishment of forests on land that has been grassland for more than 300 years. It was developed under the VCS scope 14: “Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses” as an “Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation” project.