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Guatemalan Village Gets Paid for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2004
Mayan villagers in the Guatemalan highlands have just received funds in connection with greenhouse gas mitigation achieved through their community-owned micro-hydro power system. This is believed to be the first time that an indigenous people’s organization has benefited from the nascent global greenhouse gas emissions market.
By building a renewable energy plant rather than a power plant fueled by natural gas or coal, the association in the small, isolated village of Chel is avoiding emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to global warming. The EnerGreen Foundation, a Canadian foundation dedicated to serving people and saving the environment with renewable energy, donated $25,000 (US) to the Chel Hydroelectric Association in Guatemala to support the cost of facilities and equipment for the project. In addition, EnerGreen will be entitled to any “carbon credits” or other emission reduction benefits created by building the first 55kW phase of their 165kW micro hydro plant. According to EnerGreen’s chairman, Jeff Arsenych , “This partnership with the Chel community is a new approach to renewable energy development that will be a model for future initiatives.”
The exchange was facilitated by Green Empowerment, a Portland, Oregon-based non-profit that promotes renewable energy in the developing world, and Fundacion Solar, a Guatemalan non-profit renewable energy organization. EnerGreen’s donation will fund the completion of a community-owned and operated micro hydro plant that will bring electricity to 2,258 people in an isolated Ixil-speaking community in Quiche, Guatemala, an area still recovering from the violent conflicts of the 1980s.
In this case, emission reduction credits are the 2147 tons of carbon dioxide that will not be generated as a result of constructing a micro hydro plant instead of a polluting fossil fuel source for electricity. The private companies that sponsored EnerGreen for this purpose will receive proportional rights to any credits resulting from a the Chel project.
This exchange sets a precedent for channeling the global CO2 emission credit market to small-scale community-based renewable energy projects for rural people in developing countries.
For more details contact: Anna Garwood at 503-284-5774 (Green Empowerment) or Jeff Arsenych (EnerGreen) at (403) 531-2131. *Photographs available*
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