Thursday 18 April 2019
Finnish firms launch ‘world’s first’ hub for CO2 removal certificates
A new marketplace offering science-based carbon dioxide (CO2) removal certificates, claimed to be the first in the world, has been launched.
Puro has been set up by a group of Finnish businesses in collaboration with global financial solutions company South Pole and Swedish bank SEB and aims to find a way to verify, compare and trade CO2 removals and test if they can be made visible and tradable through an open, online platform.
The first auctions where CO2 removal certificates (CORC) will be traded are to be held in May and June – they are open to all companies wanting to provide CO2 removal or explore CORC as a solution to meet their voluntary climate objectives.
A CORC is an independently verified document that confirms one ton of CO2 has been removed from the atmosphere by one of the removal methods certified by Puro.
Initially, Puro will offer certificates from three long term CO2 removal methods at an industrial scale:
- Biochar - it is a very stable form of carbon that does not decompose even if it is used for soil improvement
- Carbonated building elements – it is concrete but without any cement. The process sequesters more CO2 than the production causes
- Wooden building elements - wood that is used in the construction of buildings is away from circulation for a long time
The companies joining the experiment include Fortum, Tieto, Valio, St1, ÅF Pöyry, Compensate Foundation, Carbofex, Yara Suomi Oy, Lassila & Tikanoja, SOK, Orbix, Nordic Offset, Hedman Partners, South Pole and SEB.
Marianne Tikkanen, Innovation Manager at Fortum said: “We are less than 10 years away from reaching the level of accumulated emissions, after which it will be impossible to limit the temperature rise to 1.5°C.
“It struck us in Fortum that still in 2019 many of the available CO2 removal methods are excluded from existing carbon pricing schemes and that inspired us to establish a parallel voluntary mechanism.”
