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Carbon Capital Markets®, a leading trader in the carbon and clean energy markets, has sold offsets to the largest high street banking group in France, Crédit Agricole S.A to enable the group to offset CO2 emissions from its offices and personnel in the Ile de France region.
Crédit Agricole S.A. has made an ongoing commitment to sustainable development – it has pledged to reduce its energy consumption by 15% by 2020, and is offsetting emissions generated by operations in its 500,000m2 office space and 18,000 employees. This includes emissions generated by heating, air-conditioning and electronic devices (such as computers and printers).
Carbon Capital Markets will deliver Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) to Group Crédit Agricole S.A, for them to retire. CERs are Kyoto compliant carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol. They are high quality offsets which meet stringent criteria, and can be sold both in the compliance and voluntary carbon markets. The issued CERs are sourced from a United Nations approved CDM renewable energy and forest preservation project in Amazonas, Brazil.
Lionel Fretz, CEO of Carbon Capital Markets, said:
“We are delighted Group Credit Agricole S.A. chose to purchase offsets from Carbon Capital Markets and believe this is a very important step in its commitment to fight climate change.”
Michel Clavé, who is in charge of sustainable development at Groupe Crédit Agricole, said:
“Calculating our carbon footprint has shown us the significance of the environmental impact of our operations. Our priority is therefore to reduce our energy consumption. However, since we will continue generating CO2 emissions, we felt it important to offset these emissions to account for our environmental impact. By choosing to purchase offsets from Carbon Capital Markets, we want to show our determination to offset in a transparent and trustworthy way.”
Crédit Agricole S.A. will compliment its efforts to offset its emissions by planting a forest in France. This will show its commitment to the region and its determination to offset its emissions through biodiversity projects from which the local population will also benefit.
Crédit Agricole is fighting against climate change in many different ways, for example by financing renewable energy. Crédit Agricole has financed around 25% of French wind farms and has launched a &Euro:100 million renewable energy fund. It also advises companies on how to address climate change issues.
Carbon Capital Markets is headquartered in London and has a core competency in the management of the entire carbon credit cycle, from identifying and managing carbon and clean energy projects through to trading and efficiently monetising carbon credits on the international markets.
