TotalEnergies invests $100m in US forest carbon credits

TotalEnergies has signed a $100mn agreement with US-based carbon-focused firms Anew Climate and Aurora Sustainable Lands to set up improve forest management (IFM) projects in the US.

Anew and Aurora will oversee a portfolio of 20 projects aimed at deploying IFM practises over 300,000 hectares in 10 US states. TotalEnergies will retire the carbon credits generated by these projects beyond 2030 "to voluntarily offset part of its remaining direct Scope 1 and 2 emissions", the company said. The projects aim to generate carbon credits through the use of sustainable management practises to preserve carbon sinks, reduce timber harvesting and improve water and soil quality. Estimates on the number of carbon credits potentially generated by the projects were not disclosed.
"TotalEnergies plans to invest $100mn/yr to build a portfolio of projects capable of generating at least 5mn t of CO2 equivalent/yr by 2030," the firm said.

In June, US tech giant Microsoft signed a similar deal with Anew for 1mn IFM carbon credits.

By Nicola De Sanctis