SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – A project bringing together thousands of small farmers in western Kenya has become the first to earn carbon credits using a new sustainable farming accounting system, the World Bank said yesterday.
According to the bank – whose BioCarbon Fund is financing the initiative – the Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project issued 24,788 credits under the Verified Carbon Standard last week.
It is the first such issuance under the new carbon accounting system for low-carbon agriculture approved in 2011. The success of the initiative in Kenya could give a boost to other programs in the world seeking to cut greenhouse gas emissions from farming. Agriculture acocunts for about 14 percent of global emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
