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NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
Bad Vilbel, Frankfurt, Germany, 2010/11/22 - The city of Kloten, the Center of Appropriate Technology and Social Ecology and First Climate have together developed an unilateral domestic climate protection project for the avoidance of methane gas emissions.
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The city of Kloten, the Center of Appropriate Technology and Social Ecology and First Climate have together developed an unilateral domestic climate protection project for the avoidance of methane gas emissions that is the first project of its kind to be registered by Switzerland’s Federal Office for the Environment, or FOEN. This project traps and burns the methane in landfill gas from a retired landfill in Kloten, thus ensuring that only minimal levels of methane escape into the atmosphere. Methane is twenty-one times more damaging to the environment than CO2 and the project can burn some 1500 tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually. Sales of emissions reduction certificates will ensure the complete repayment of investments in the project.
Geneva’s municipal utility authority, Services Industriels de Genève (SIG), which is participating as part of its climate protection project “Eco-climate”, will buy the emissions. First Climate provided its comprehensive know-how in the development and structuring of international climate protection projects for the development of Switzerland’s first landfill gas project. The Zurich-based company brought SIG and the city of Kloten together and structured the transaction. First Climate developed the purchase agreements as well as the project documentation for registration with the FOEN.
Landfills in Switzerland are required by law to burn landfill gases. However, as decades pass, the methane content of retired landfills falls so low that burning via conventional methods is impossible. Such long-dormant landfills are excluded from burning requirements. The landfill near Kloten was taken out of operation in the 1980s. Since then it has been covered and incorporated into a nature reserve. Nonetheless, each year the retired landfill emits some 900,000 cubic meters of gas that, because of current legislation, aren’t required to be treated.
This is what motivated the Center of Appropriate Technology and Social Ecology CATSEto act. A pioneer in environmental technology, the Center was already working on a solution for the flaring of weak gas by driving the gas into a combustion chamber at high speed where it can be burned without leaving a harmful residue. This registered project marks the first time this new technology has been used.
Although Kloten is no longer required to treat this methane gas, the City Council decided to provide CHF 250,000 in early financing for this innovative project thanks to the prospect of a buyer for the emissions reduction certificates. The implementation of the project marks the city as a leader in terms of environmental responsibility and supports the development of promising clean technology. Work has already begun on the weak gas flare and the first methane gas is scheduled to be burned in April 2011.
First Climate is one of Europe’s leading carbon asset management companies. With its presence on five continents and more than ten years’ experience in the market, it is one of the few intermediaries to cover the entire carbon credit value chain. First Climate develops, finances, and implements CDM, JI, and VER projects, purchases the resulting carbon credits, and customizes trading solutions for companies subject to the EU ETS. As investment advisor to several institutional investors, First Climate structures and develops carbon funds and related products. In the voluntary market, the company provides VERs verified according to the highest international standards.
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fritz.wilhelm[.]firstclimate.com 
