12/11/2021 by Richard
Energy major TotalEnergies has launched its Batéké Carbon Sink project in the Republic of Congo as the country celebrated its National Tree Planting Day.
Over 10 years, around 40 million trees are set to be planted on 40,000 hectares of land and tended to for 35 years. TotalEnergies, which makes the Total lubricants and metalworking fluids, has committed to becoming a net-zero carbon emitter by 2050, and nature-based projects are seen as a complement to direct reductions in emissions to achieve this goal.
TotalEnergies’ president for exploration and production, Nicolas Terraz, said the project exemplified the company’s commitment to developing natural carbon sinks, and he thanked the Republic of Congo for its support. He also said the company’s climate efforts included a range of:
“Concrete actions, aiming first to prevent and then to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and finally to offset residual emissions. The planting of a new forest on the Batéké Plateaux is a concrete illustration of this approach, complementing all the other priority measures for preventing and reducing TotalEnergies’ emissions.”
More than a million plants have already been cultivated at local tree nurseries, and these will be planted on 800 hectares of prepared land from the next rainy season. When complete, it is expected that the forest will sequester around 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide on average each year for 20 years, which is roughly equivalent to the carbon footprint of a UK town like Guildford.
TotalEnergies will use the resulting carbon credits, combined with similar projects, to offset some of its emissions from 2030.
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