GENEVA, September 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercuria Energy Trading S.A. of Switzerland has won an auction by the Sao Paulo Municipal Government in Brazil of 713,000 certified emission reduction (CER) credits, representing 713,000 tons of CO2 equivalent. The winning bid was 19.20 Euros ($28.20) per credit-a total of over 13.68 million Euros.
The auction took place under the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty under which signatory nations agree to create a market for carbon emissions, in order to try to reduce CO2 emissions into the earth's atmosphere.
The auction was held by the BM&FBOVESPA Exchange in Brazil. Eight bidders participated in the auction.
Instead of releasing methane gas from its landfills into the atmosphere, Sao Paolo traps and pipes the gas for use, thus qualifying for the emissions credits, which it can sell. The CERs come from the Bandeirantes landfill Energy Project (454,343 CERs) and the San Joao landfill Energy Project (258,657 CERs). The two projects have methane-based electricity generating plants designed to supply 370 MWh per year-enough for 700,000 people--and to improve living conditions near the landfill sites, in some of the city's poorest areas.
"Mercuria has a network of contacts with refineries, utilities and many others around the world who are in need of such emissions credits" explains Mercuria carbon trader Jean- Francois Steels, due to requirements to cap emissions under - for example - the European Trading Scheme (EU ETS).
"Like all trading" he said, "it is a question of supply and demand. In this case the supply is from Brazil. The demand is likely to be in Europe and Japan."
Mercuria Energy Group President and CEO Marco Dunand said "as a trading group, Mercuria wants to cover the entire energy complex. We are pleased this winning bid at auction will allow us to expand our carbon emissions trading, which we expect to represent a growing share of our overall business."
Mercuria Energy Trading SA is a subsidiary of Mercuria Energy Group Ltd, a global energy company which is one of the five largest independent private crude oil and petroleum products traders in the world.
For More Information: David Ensor, Exec Vice President for Communications and Strategy, Mercuria Energy Group Ltd., dbensor@mercuria.com, +44-7900-917243
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