WayCarbon's new approach to carbon projects
One of the business fronts that Banco Santander S.A aimed to develop after the acquisition of 80% of WayCarbon was the Carbon Projects department. In its 17 years of experience, WayCarbon has always worked with carbon projects, acting as a technical consultant for these opportunities and registering projects using different technologies in the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) and also in the VCS (Verified Carbon Standard).
In order to catalyze a fair and resilient transition to a Net Zero economy, we changed our business model, creating a specific Carbon Projects department. In this new model we continue to use all the technical experience acquired in this long journey, but we also have responsibility for the opportunities developed throughout the life of the project. Today we have the capacity to make the necessary investments to implement projects, as well as maintain them throughout their lifespan, establishing long-term partnerships with the project owners.
One of our focuses are the famous REDD+ projects, which play a fundamental role in combating global warming. The main source of CO2 emissions in Brazil is caused by changes in land use, the majority of which consists of deforestation within the Amazon biome. As Brazil is a country with approximately 280 million hectares of native vegetation and approximately 85 million hectares that can be legally converted to some use, the mechanism of forest conservation projects is of paramount importance to prevent the progression of deforestation.
At WayCarbon our mission is to deliver scaled high quality and high integrity carbon credits to companies that are committed to decarbonization goals. In the quality and integrity of our projects, we value not taking land risks in relation to public areas, possible demarcations of indigenous lands, possible State collections and no flaw in the ownership chain of properties.
In addition, our projects must listen and communicate with the community that lives in the properties’ region and contribute to protecting its biodiversity. We consider that to sell carbon credits to companies that have commitments to transition to a Net Zero economy is the most efficient way to catalyze change in this great challenge. Having Santander as a partner is invaluable for us to be able access any market in the world due to its capillarity, without the need for mediators.
We are currently developing two REDD+ carbon projects in this new business model. We are thrilled to deliver in 2024 the first carbon credits from our own projects generated over 50 thousand hectares of protected forest in the state of Acre.
Forest conservation projects have their role, but we cannot stop there. Within our New Business´ team, we are creating the capacity to explore other opportunities such as reducing emissions in the enteric fermentation process in livestock farming, practices linked to regenerative agriculture and insertion in reforestation projects. The revenue from carbon credits has the capacity to boost several disruptive practices to catalyze the transition that the world so desperately needs, and we want to position ourselves at the forefront of these new actions.
