Marubeni to earn CO2 credits from Ukraine project

TOKYO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Marubeni Corp (8002.T) will be able to earn about 1.5 million carbon dioxide emissions credits from a U.N. approved climate-friendly project to cut coal mine methane in Ukraine, Japan's fifth-biggest international trading company said on Tuesday.

The United Nations on Aug. 25 registered the project as a joint implementation (JI) programme to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Marubeni said in a statement, making it the fifth such project in the world.

Under the Kyoto Protocol global climate pact, JI programmes are designed to offer rich countries low-cost ways of meeting their Kyoto emissions goals by gaining credits through investment in green projects in former communist nations.

Marubeni is one of the most active traders in procuring U.N.-approved emissions credits to Japanese customers, including the Japanese government.

The project, which Marubeni has been working on with Donetsk-based coal mining firm Zasyadko since 2004, is aimed at capturing methane, the combustible gas with far more global warming potential than CO2, and using it for power generation.

Marubeni said verified emission reductions from the project before the 2008-2012 Kyoto period started had totalled about 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Since the Japanese and Ukraine governments have agreed such emissions credits will be counted as a part of sovereign carbon credits, called assigned amount units (AAUs), they will be transferred to the Japanese company once Ukraine emissions registries are linked to a U.N.-backed trading system.

Japan is among the few countries already connected to the U.N. system, called the International Transaction Log.

Between 2008 and 2012, the Ukraine project is expected to reduce 2 million tonnes of emissions in CO2 equivalent a year, or an annual 2 million emission reduction units (ERUs), Marubeni said. (Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Chris Wickham)