The Palmerston North City Council has sold 4500 carbon credits to
Toyota New Zealand from its Awapuni Landfill gas-to-electricity project. Toyota, based in Palmerston North, bought enough credits to offset
the company's remaining carbon dioxide emissions from the last two
years, the city council said. Toyota and the council were also discussing a supply agreement for
future years, which the council said would further help to fund the
Awapuni site development. The Awapuni project uses methane gas produced within the landfill to
power its wastewater treatment plant, and offers surplus energy to the
national grid.
The purchase was the largest since the first sale of carbon credits
to the Austrian government two years ago. The project has the capacity
to generate around 35,000 carbon credits a year. One credit is equal to one tonne of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. Issued by the Government Climate Control Office, the council's carbon credits can be sold on local and international markets.
