PetroChina Company Limited's first clean development mechanism project — a nitrous oxide decomposition project by Liaoyang Petrochemical Company has been approved by the United Nations CDM Executive Board, and the first 994,800 tons of carbon indicators have been approved for trading.
The first certified emission reduction is from March to April, and the second from May to June is expected to be started soon.
An official of Liaoyang Petrochemical Company stated the company has a capacity of 140,000 tons of oxalic acid, with nitrous oxide emission of over 40,000 tons each year whose greenhouse effect is 310 times greater than carbon dioxide. The official also stated that when the emission reduction devices are put into use, the NO2 will be transformed into oxygen and nitrogen, so the reduction is the equivalent of 12 million tons of CO2, equal to one-tenth of the carbon indicators for of all China's projects that are successfully registered by the CDM Executive Board.
Buyers of credits from the CDM project include the largest carbon indicator buyer NAM from Canada and Goldman Sachs, PetrolChina's main underwriter in its overseas listing.
