The latest approval made by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Designated National Authority (DNA) for the Kyoto Protocol’s CDM, involves six projects that will cut emissions of polluting and foul-smelling methane from waste water produced by five hog farms and one distillery and thus earn carbon credits.

Greenhouse gases (GHG) whose emission the Kyoto Protocol (the agreement between more than 163 countries for reduction in GHG emission) want to reduce include methane, carbon dioxide, sulfur oxide, and nitrous oxide.

CDM carbon credits allows companies to sell their credits to a broker, a CDM developer, or to an exchange. For instance, the World Bank has a Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF), a consortium of six governments and 17 energy companies that buys and sells credits.

A private trader, Emissions Trading PLC also began floating carbon credits at the London Stock Exchange last year.

The six projects that will cut methane mission will use the covered inground anaerobic reactor (CIGAR) and the thermophilic anaerobic digestor technologies.

These projects, aside from recovering methane will generate electricity using biogas technology.

These hog farm projects were developed by the Philippine Bio-Sciences Company Inc. together with Eco-Securities.

Participating in these hog farm projects are the Gaya Lim Farm Inc., Gold Farm Livestocks Corp., Joliza Farms Inc., Paramount Integrated Corp. and Uni-Rich Agro Industrial Corp., all found in Bulacan, Tarlac, and Nueva Ecija provinces.

Another project that received a CDM letter of approval from DENR is the 20 megawatt (MG) Nasulo geothermal power plant and switching station of the Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Devt. Corp. (PNOC-EDC) in Nasuji Area, Negros Oreintal.

The PNOC-EDC project will help cut GHG emission through its clean energy source that substitutes use of fossil fuel through clean steam energy.

Aside from contributing to environmental sustainability, it enhances the country’s energy self sufficiency and savings.

Other prospective projects for CDM are the Tanduay Distillers Inc. affiliate Absolut chemicals Inc. which has put up a wastewater treatment in an ethanol plant in Lian, Batangas.

This improves waste management by reducing chemical oxygen demand, destroying biochemical oxygen demand, cutting suspended solids, and improving color quality of wastewater.

"The projects are highly valued by farmers as the treated wastewater will be applied as liquid fertilizer for free, reducing farmers’ reliance on chemical fertilizers. In addition, the projects also increase diversity and security of energy supply of the ethanol plant and the hog farms by using the biogas as fuel for electricity generation," according to DENR.

An earlier CDM-approved project is the 24.75 megawatt Bangui Bay project by the North Wind Power Devt. Corp. It will displace GHG including 51,800 MT of carbon dioxide and 802 MT of sulfur oxide.