The Negros Occidental-based bioethanol unit of listed sugar group Roxas Holdings Inc. will sell its carbon credits to the World Bank through the Community Development Carbon Fund for a 10-year period starting 2010.   

Roxol Bioenergy Corp., which signed an agreement on Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement with the World Bank on January 14, said in a Philippine Stock Exchange disclosure that the carbon credits will come from the operation of its wastewater treatment facility and the methane gas recovery system of its ethanol plant in La Carlota City.

The plant will be situated adjacent to the Central Azucarera de La Carlota, a sugar mill owned by Central Azucarera Don Pedro Group Corp., also a subsidiary of Roxas Holdings.

Pedro Roxas, chairman of Roxol Bioenergy Corp., said the purchase agreement will give their company’s income stream a boost of at least $3.2 million in the next four years.

The purchase price is a dollar per metric ton of carbon dioxide reduced.

Roxas said the project will avoid the emission of at least 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.

The company will use part of its revenue from the CDCF emission reductions purchase to finance Roxol community development projects such livelihood, health, and educational services such as scholarships, vocational training for out-of-school youth, rehabilitation of schools, and day care centers.

Roxas said about 3,500 residents of Brgy, Roberto S. Benedicto in La Carlota City and Brgy. Don Salvador Benedicto in Pontevedra, many of whom are agrarian reform beneficiaries, will benefit from the ethanol project.

He said the project will not only provide local employment, but will also increase demand for materials and equipment and other inputs and services, such as labor and transportation to support the operations of the ethanol plant.*NLG

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