Amazon Supports the Amazon Rainforest by Buying Carbon Credits
They invest in energy produced by nuclear power plants but they also spend to support the Amazon rainforest.Amazon and other companies have in fact agreed to purchase carbon offset credits for 180 million dollars, in order to promote the conservation of the rainforest in the Brazilian state of Para.
The purchase will be made through the Leaf Coalition forest conservation initiative, which Amazon helped found in 2021 with a group of companies and governments including the US and UK. This is Leaf’s first in the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, which is critical to contain climate change thanks to the huge amount of C02 that trees can absorb. Para Governor Helder Barbalho will announce the agreement during Climate Week in New York, coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly, according to Reuters.
Even as global demand for carbon credits stalls, Tech giants Microsoft, Meta and Google have all made offset purchases in Brazil over the course of the year while trying to get energy, which they constantly need for the operation of data centers, even from nuclear power plants. Energy that has the advantage of being produced without C02 emissions.
As for the deal in Brazil, Amazon, Bayer, consulting firms BCG and Capgemini, clothing manufacturer H&M and the Walmart Foundation will collectively buy 5 million credits at $15 each. This is, Reuters writes, a very high price. In fact, it is far higher than last week’s average of $4.49 for nature-related carbon credits. Each credit represents a reduction of 1 metric ton of carbon emissions from curbing deforestation in the state of Pará until 2026.
Another 7 million credits will be made available for purchase: the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway have guaranteed a portion of these credits, which they will purchase if private companies do not. The Brazilian state of Para will host the United Nations climate summit COP30 next year. This is an initiative promoted by President Lula da Silva in an attempt to restore Brazil’s environmental credentials after years of increasing deforestation. In fact, Para is the leading Brazilian region for deforestation since 2005, but since 2021, forest destruction has been decreasing thanks to initiatives sponsored by companies like Amazon that need carbon credits to offset the significant emissions from data center power consumption. The increase in similar agreements could stop the phenomenon of deforestation of the green lung of the planet, the Amazon rainforest.
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