According to expert calculations, with a 78,000ha coconut garden, Ben Tre province can sell nearly 6 million carbon credits, earning about 700 billion VND for farmers.
On February 23, Ben Tre Provincial People’s Committee said that many scientists have proposed that Ben Tre promote the commercialization of carbon credits as a source of economic benefit.
Ben Tre province has about 78,000 hectares of coconut gardens. It is estimated that 1 hectare of coconut garden in Ben Tre can store 25-75 tons of CO2, equivalent to the province’s coconut garden can store 1,950,000 – 5,850,000 tons of CO2.
Coconuts are closely linked to the livelihoods of most Ben Tre people (Photo: Nguyen Cuong).
In addition to coconuts, Ben Tre can also investigate the CO2 storage capacity of other perennial crops to sell carbon credits.
Each ton of CO2 is equivalent to 1 carbon credit. Currently, the lowest selling price of 1 carbon credit is 5 USD, so Ben Tre can potentially earn 9.75-29.25 million USD (equivalent to about 230-700 billion VND) from selling “goods”. ” This.
In 2023, for the first time, our country successfully sold 10.3 million forest carbon credits through the World Bank, at a unit price of 5 USD/credit, earning 51.5 million USD (about 1,250 billion VND).
This is the amount of carbon credits recorded in forest areas in 6 North Central provinces. Forest growers are the beneficiaries of this benefit.
The event opens up the prospect of selling carbon credits on perennial orchards. According to the roadmap, the domestic carbon market will be piloted from 2025 and officially operated from 2028.
Recently, coconut has been recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as a key industrial crop. In Ben Tre alone, more than 70% of the population has a livelihood associated with coconut trees, so when there are additional benefits from selling carbon credits, the number of beneficiaries is very large.