Russia's Sibur to issue carbon credits under international programme

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Sibur, the largest petrochemical producer in eastern Europe, said on Tuesday it plans to start issuing carbon credits outside Russia after applying to register a solar power project with a new international programme.

The project will be registered with the Qatar-registered Global Carbon Council (GCC).

During COP28 conference, GCC announced the launch of its own carbon credit registry, which, among other things, will enable Russian businesses to register projects and issue carbon credits.

Sibur, which already trades carbon credits in its home market on a local exchange, will become the first Russian firm to issue carbon credits under an international programme since Russia established its own system for emissions trading in 2022.

The company plans to issue around 18,000 carbon credits - permits representing emissions cuts from climate action projects that allow the owner to offset their own discharges.

It said its solar power plant with 10,080 solar panels has a capacity of 4.9 megawatts and takes up an area of more than 8 hectares.

(This story has been officially corrected by Sibur to drop reference to an agreement with GCC and clarify that it only applied to register its project with the programme in the headline and paragraphs 1 and 2)

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Jan Harvey)