Rio de Janeiro working with AirCarbon Exchange to establish Voluntary Carbon Credit Marketplace in Brazil

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• The Carbon Trading Exchange Work Group has highlighted the voluntary carbon market's high growth potential
• AirCarbon Exchange and BlockC have full support from Rio's City Hall to develop a carbon marketplace for Brazil
• The new marketplace is set to launch in 2022

GLASGOW, Scotland and SINGAPORE and RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 22, 2021, Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes published Decree No. 48.995/21, which started the Carbon Trading Exchange Work Group. The Work Group reviewed almost 200 years of work done in Rio de Janeiro on Environmental, Finance and Education by local companies and found that the city's assets have the potential to be integrated to create value for the whole society by addressing one of the main global issues of this century: "Environmental Responsibility".

Through its research, the Work Group found that although the current voluntary carbon market is small and fragmented, it has great growth potential, with a prediction that the market size could grow 100 times by 2030. The Work Group therefore proposed attracting more financial players to grow the local sustainability sector.

The first step of the proposed plan is for Rio de Janeiro to create a platform to transact environmental assets such as carbon credits by "Rio+30" in June 2022 with full support from Rio's City Hall. In this context, AirCarbon Exchange (ACX), the world's first fully digital carbon exchange, announced during a COP26 side event on 9 November that a new marketplace for voluntary carbon credits will be launched in Brazil in 2022. Working together with Rio's Economic, Development and Innovation Department and BlockC, the Brazil Carbon Marketplace (BCM) will utilize ACX's current market architecture and will leverage ACX's existing and future network of platforms whereby carbon credits listed on the BCM can be traded on ACX's other platforms.

Chicão Bulhões, Rio's Secretary of Economic Development, Innovation and Simplification, said:
"Rio has a history of concern for the environment; Eco92 was the milestone to global climate governance. The city is a pioneer on environmental commitments in the region, having committed to becoming net zero in emissions by 2050. In addition, we have the first and third largest urban forest in the world and a close relationship with nature."

Carlos Martins, CEO of BlockC, said:
"Support from Brazilian carbon project developers will be essential for the success of the marketplace. In this regard, we have already received great interest and support from local carbon project developers who are extremely excited about this new initiative."

Juliana Minorello, LATAM Government Affairs & Public Policy Director and Spokesperson for Tembici, said:
"We believe that carbon credits generated by bike usage can be a great driver and encourager of the model, not only to the government with the growing international demand for actions to combat climate change, but also to the users, who will eventually be able to convert these credits into financial benefits through platforms like BCM."

Miltom Pilão, CEO of Orizon, said:
"The sanitation sector is a major source of methane in Brazil, releasing 90 million metric tCO2e into the atmosphere per year. Orizon believes that through constant innovation and investment, sustainable cities can be bulit to protect the environment. Orizon was the first Brazilian company to generate and sell methane capture credits through the UN Clean Development Mechanism and we believe with this new marketplace, the trading of carbon credits will become much more efficient."

Manuela Larangeira, CEO of MDC, said:
"MDC's mission is to create low-carbon energy solutions for its clients, by implementing and operating innovative biogas and biomass projects that reduce significantly the impacts of carbon footprint in our communities. The generation and monetization of carbon credits are central to our strategy and business, and we expect the Brazilian carbon market to become increasingly more active in the short-term as a result of ACX's initiative and given the country's crucial role in the global challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

William Pazos, Managing Director and Co-Founder of AirCarbon Exchange, said:
"Expanding to Brazil has always been at the top of ACX's growth plan. Brazil is full of potential for generating quality carbon credits. By working directly with Rio de Janeiro and BlockC, we will be at the forefront of providing project developers in Brazil a platform to generate a stream of revenue while doing their part to protect the environment."

About AirCarbon Pte. Ltd.

AirCarbon Exchange ("ACX") is a global exchange revolutionising the voluntary carbon market. The Exchange's client base comprises corporate entities, financial traders, carbon project developers and other industry stakeholders. ACX provides its clients with an efficient and transparent trading platform which is easy to use, frictionless and with the lowest commission fees available on the market. Its underlying technology will allow the carbon market to scale efficiently to meet global ambitions of Net Zero.

Launched in 2019, the Exchange is a hybrid platform with a traditional central order book architecture that will be familiar to all experienced traders. The Exchange also utilises the speed and efficiency of the blockchain to achieve atomic T-0 trade execution, clearing and settlement. The Exchange's core matching engine can currently match trades in the order ~10k per second.

As of May 2021, ACX is the world's first carbon negative exchange, having offset its carbon emissions 12 months into the future (to May 2022) through the Onil Stoves Guatemala Uspantan project. ACX is committed to continuing to offset all of its emissions 12 months forward.

For more information or to trade carbon, please reach out to [email protected] or visit https://www.aircarbon.co. 

About BlockC

BlockC is a digital platform that provides decarbonization solutions to corporations globally. BlockC is part of a group of companies with over 20 years of presence in the renewable energy and carbon offsets markets.

For more information, please visit https://www.blockc.com.br/.

About MDC Energy

Founded in 2006, MDC operates an energy platform focused on sustainable solutions, such as Biomethane production, production of steam and power using biomass, and solutions using Natural Gas. The company has developed and currently operates several plans of waste-to-gas and biomass-to-energy in Brazil, avoiding over 1mm tons of CO2 emissions. MDC mission is to create low-carbon energy solutions for its clients by practicing excellence in innovation, promoting environmental awareness, and implementing a sustainable vision of business with a deep ESG commitment.

For more information, please visit https://mdcenergia.com.br/.

About Orizon Valorização de Resíduos

Orizon VR is a waste treatment and recovery company that believes in the sustainable development of cities and constantly invests in innovation and technology to generate clean energy, foster a circular economy, and protect the environment and the health of populations.

It is the first Brazilian company to generate and trade carbon credits through the UN Clean Development Mechanism. The company accounts for 10% of the credits generated and is a leader in this market, with 6 million tons per year — which is equivalent to planting nearly 20 million trees or removing over 1 million cars from the roads per year. Its goal is to reach 50 MTCO2e by 2030.

For more information, please visit https://orizonvr.com.br/.

About Tembici

Tembici is the leading micromobility company in Latin America, responsible for more than 50 million trips with bicycles in the main Brazilian capitals, such as Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador, Recife and Porto Alegre, in addition to Santiago, Chile, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Considered one of the most promising and innovative startups in the country, by the list of 100 Startups to Watch (2020 and 2021), over the past few years the company has followed the heating of the micromobility sector in the world and, due to its business model and quality of the product, it registers solid growth and directly contributes to consolidate the bicycle as a mode of transport in the cities where it operates. This year, the founders of Tembici became part of the Endeavor entrepreneurs network, receiving support from the organization to continue growing at an accelerated pace.

For more information, please visit https://www.tembici.com.br/.

SOURCE AirCarbon Exchange

Related Links

https://www.aircarbon.co