Today, UPM’s Sichuan Rural Poor-Household Biogas Development Programme (CDM PoA 2898, GS 1239) successfully obtained its tenth issuance of Gold Standard VERs covering vintage 2021. After deduction of the share of proceeds to support CDM and Gold Standard operations and contribute to climate change adaptation activities, slightly more than 750,000 premium-quality GS VERs are available for sale to help clients around the globe achieve their climate action and CSR objectives.

Due to the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol and the uncertain future of the CDM after 2020, UPM has decided to have all PoA carbon credits as from (and including) vintage 2020 going forward issued solely under the Gold Standard, as GS VERs. However, the waiver of CDM certification only applies to the PoA’s vintage 2020+ issuances, the PoA itself has not been withdrawn from the CDM. It remains registered both under the CDM and the Gold Standard for the Global Goals (GS4GG) and there is no change whatsoever in the approach or quality of this project.

This PoA’s host country China has not yet published any guidance on how it avoids double counting in compliance with Art. 6 of the Paris Agreement and has not yet issued any host country corresponding adjustment approvals. End-users located outside of China should therefore rather use this PoA’s vintage 2021 GS VERs to support climate action in China (contribution or impact claim) than for offsetting their own GHG emissions (compensation claim) to avoid any double counting risks.

The issuance of vintage 2022 GS VERs from this most reputable climate action programme is expected for early 2024.

Your contacts at UPM for the Sichuan Household Biogas PoA and its GS CERs or GS VERs are:

Martin Dilger, Managing Director, UPM Germany
mdilger(at)upm-cdm.eu, T: +49 89 1222197 – 50

and

Gaiai Guo, Vice General Manager, UPM China
guog(at)upm-cdm.eu, T: +86 10 6468 0500