BOGOTA, (Reuters) – A Colombian environmental charity will launch a carbon trading platform in mid-2015 to companies at home and abroad seeking to voluntarily offset emissions, it said on Thursday, as projects in the Andean nation to cut greenhouse gases intensify.
The Andean nation, one of the world’s most biodiverse, has up to 17 million potentially reforestable hectares, an area larger than Greece, to generate carbon credits, said Fundacion Natura, the charity heading up the planting initiatives around the country.
Though Colombia does not have legally binding greenhouse gas emissions limits, some local companies eager to show ecological credentials have paid upfront to finance projects generating credits independent certifiers will issue next year.
“Colombia has big potential. There are large areas available for reforestation, and this is a big advantage in the voluntary markets,” said Alexandra Ochoa, a climate change expert from the foundation as it announced the platform’s future launch.
The creation of a voluntary market would give Colombia a head-start for whenever it eventually committed to binding international agreements to cut emissions, Ochoa said, which could come about during the United Nations’ COP21 climate conference to be held in Paris next year.
