Three Municipalities in Vicenza province (Northern Italy) have recently sold carbon credits equivalent to 300 ton of CO2, earned thanks to the sound management of their wood resources.

This was made possible by the Carbomark program, promoted by Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia Regions, with the cooperation of several local universities and e-Ambiente, and financed by the Life+ EU program.

The project aims to promote a local Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), featuring only local mitigation activities, so that both producers and buyers of carbon credits come from the same area. The credits are the result of a wide range of agro-forest activities such as forest management, wood products, urban forestry and biochar.

The municipalities of Cismon del Grappa, Caltrano and Lusiana managed their woods according to sustainable forest management criteria and to the PEFC standards for forest management. By registering to the Carbomark program their mitigation action was calculated, and they were entitled to carbon credits that were then auctioned and sold to local companies at a minimum of 30 Euros per ton, against the 0.5 dollars of the voluntary market and the 10/12 Euros of the regulated carbon market.

The system represents a way to reward the owners (both public and private) for their commitment in the protection of local forests. At the same time local companies can buy the credits to mitigate their CO2 emissions and, in combination with an effective environmental policy, to present themselves in the market with the "green business" label.

Other auctions are already planned. The next will be on July 30, when Mel Municipality (Belluno province) will sell credits for 317 CO2 tons, obtained through the careful management of the woods belonging to the municipality.

For more information please visit the Carbomark official website.