MGRO PARTNERS WITH MONSON CARBON TO ENTER THE GLOBAL CARBON MARKET THROUGH PALM OIL
07 November 2024
PT Mahkota Group Tbk (MGRO) succeeded in attracting Monsoon Carbon for the cooperation of carbon credit sales projects in the international market from the development of environmentally friendly energy in the form of methane gas capture from the operation of PT Intan Sejati Andalan's Biogas plant in Bengkalis, Riau.
The biogas power plant is projected to generate at least 95,000 MTCO2 carbon credits to be offered to buyers. Monsoon Carbon is a Singapore-based carbon credit market agent with a portfolio of carbon credits from a number of renewable energy projects in Asia and Africa, such as the Dadin Kowa hydropower plant in Nigeria, Xenamnoy 1-2 hydropower plant in Laos, a number of biogas projects in Malaysia, Nhon Hoa 1 and Ea Nam wind power plants in Vietnam, Dau Tieng 2 solar power plant in Vietnam and Malindi Solar Farm project in Kenya.
President Director of Mahkota Group, Usli Sarsi said the 25-hectare oil palm Integrated Sustainable Agro Industry area project at the Duri 13 factory site, Bathin Sobanga Village, Bathin Solapan District, Bengkalis Regency, Riau Province has been included in the Monsoon Methane Avoidance commercial project as a collaborative project to sell carbon credits to the world carbon market.
“Monson Carbon plans to register this project in March 2025 as a carbon credit biogas plant. They have successfully done this project before in Malaysia so we expect our project to be even more successful,” he said in Medan, Tuesday (5/11).
According to Usli Sarsi, the collaboration with Monson provides an opportunity for the sale of carbon credit projects from the Integrated Sustainable Agro Industry area to be optimized and successful in the global market.
The Global Methane Treaty initiative was launched at COP26 (26th United Nations climate change conference), which aims to reduce anthropogenic methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030.
Reducing emissions from methane is also a priority in Indonesia, where methane accounts for about 33.7% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In Indonesia, said Usli Sarsi, the agricultural sector is a significant contributor to emissions, especially from processing crops such as oil palm, sugar cane and cassava.
The main problem is the large volume of wastewater generated, which is rich in nutrients and organic matter. A common practice is to store and treat this wastewater in open ponds. However, as the organic matter decomposes, it can produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) released into the earth's atmosphere, thus contributing greatly to emissions.
“So we together with Monson want to strengthen our commitment to market environmentally friendly agribusiness projects. One of them is by building a biogas plant for our own needs from green energy sources like our project in Bengkalis, Riau.”
Mahkota Group provides some of its investment development funds for the development of green projects in the hope of developing as an efficient, profitable, and environmentally friendly company in the palm oil agroindustry sector.
The Integrated Sustainable Agro Industry project area in Duri 13 currently processes about 1,200 tons of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per day, generating about 264 tons of empty fruit bunch waste and about 60% liquid waste.