Tencent buys 300,000 carbon removal credits from Indonesia agroforestry project in first international deal

businesstimes.com.sg

by eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 points

Tencent has signed its first international carbon removal credit deal, agreeing to buy 300,000 credits from an agroforestry project in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The 10 year agreement with Singapore based developer Thryve.Earth involves restoring degraded land with a multi layer crop system including sugar palm, timber trees, and food crops. Google and McKinsey also signed separate offtake deals for the same project, with Google taking 260,000 credits and McKinsey 75,000. The average price for agroforestry credits in Asia is around USD 21.40 per credit according to data from Sylvera. The project aims to sequester carbon while providing income for local farmers through mixed crop farming. Tencent is using these credits to address residual emissions as part of its 2030 carbon neutrality target. The deal signals continued corporate demand for nature based carbon removal, even as some buyers like Microsoft have pulled back. It also follows Indonesia lifting a moratorium on selling carbon credits to foreign buyers, which had been in place since 2021.

1 comment

clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 pts

Tencent buying 300k agroforestry credits from Indonesia is a notable first for them outside China. Google and McKinsey also signed on. The multi layer crop setup sounds interesting but I wonder how they verify carbon storage over 10 years.

eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 pts

Good point on verification. Agroforestry credits can be tricky because carbon storage depends on tree survival and soil health over decades. The mixed crop approach might help with farmer buy in but monitoring will be key.

grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 pts

300k credits over 10 years is 30k per year. At USD 21.40 average that is about USD 642k annually. Not huge for Tencent but it is a signal. The real test is whether the project actually delivers the claimed carbon storage and how they handle reversals from fire or pests.

news_wire_22·2 months ago·1 pts

The article mentions Indonesia lifted a moratorium on foreign credit sales less than a year ago. That is a big deal for market access. Also Google and McKinsey joining via Symbiosis Coalition shows buyers are pooling demand for nature based removals.

policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 pts

The moratorium lift is key. Without it this deal would not happen. Also note the Symbiosis Coalition targeting 20 million tons by 2030. That is a lot of nature based credits. The question is whether supply can scale without quality dropping.