Ecosecurities

EcoSecurities was founded in January 1997, by environmental entrepreneurs Pedro Moura Costa[1] and Marc Stuart. Created ten months before the Kyoto Protocol, EcoSecurities contributed to the evolution of carbon markets and climate policies from the outset.

In 2005, EcoSecurities Group Plc was listed in the London Stock Exchange, raising capital for an expansion drive that resulted in offices in 33 countries run by over 350 employees. This enabled the company to develop over 700 CDM projects located in 45 countries and using 50 technologies. These projects resulted in the largest carbon credit portfolio worldwide, worth over USD 4 billion, giving the company a significant global market share.

In June 2007, the company raised an additional €150 million to expand into new markets, with Credit Suisse becoming a major investor. Its trades in the international carbon market were valued at USD 41 billion in the first six months of 2008.

In 2009, the company was acquired by USA investment bank JP Morgan, when the company subsequently delisted from the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. In 2012, EcoSecurities was sold to Swiss trader Mercuria Energy Group.

In 2019, former EcoSecurities manager Pablo Fernandez and BVRio (an environmental markets NGO created by EcoSecurities’ co-founder, Pedro Moura Costa) acquired the company and reactivated its project pipeline, contracts book, and alumni network, to participate in a new phase of carbon and environmental markets.

Throughout its history, EcoSecurities led most policy, financial, and technical developments and innovations in the climate sector and achieved many “first”, such as:

• Development of the first carbon offset verification system worldwide, leading to the mandatory requirement of certification of carbon credits adopted by the CDM. Service licensed to Swiss certification major SGS, in 1997;
• Assistance in structuring the first nation-wide carbon offset scheme, for Costa Rica in 1997;
• Structuring the first prospectus-based forest and carbon investment scheme, for Australia Plantation Timber, in 1999;
• Creation of the first methodology for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), in 2004;
• Development of the first CDM project registered by the UNFCCC – the NovaGerar Landfill Project in Brazil, in 2005;
• Structuring of the first carbon-backed debt notes, purchased by Credit Suisse, in 2005;
• Structuring of the first carbon credit securitisation instrument, with Credit Suisse, in 2007.

More recently, its founders have participated in the creation of various innovative environmental finance schemes, such as:

• Various market mechanisms developed by the BVRio Environmental Exchange;
• A new crediting scheme for plastic waste recovery and recycling, run by the 3R Initiative;
• The Responsible Commodities Facility, a new fund for the financing of sustainable commodities in Brazil.

EcoSecurities operates in both the compliance and voluntary carbon markets. In the compliance market, EcoSecurities implements projects in 11 countries under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to generate Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) which are used by governments and organisations under the Kyoto Protocol and European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Among the more than 700 Clean Development Mechanism projects that EcoSecurities has helped develop, the list includes:

• NovaGerar landfill (also known as CTR Nova Iguaçú) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the first project registered with the CDM worldwide;
• Small scale hydroelectricity project at Cuyamapa, Honduras, the first to be issued with carbon credits by the CDM Executive Board;
• Energy Efficient Cookstoves in Myanmar, Installation of energy efficient Improved Cooking Stoves in the households of small communities in Myanmar;
• Ras Ghareb Wind Energy in Egypt. The Project is a Non-Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE) generation plant that will be developed in Ras Ghareb on the Gulf of Suez, Egypt, by an Independent Power Producer (IPP);
• biomass to electricity and also wastewater treatment system upgrade, both projects for Celulose Irani, in the south region of Brazil[2];
• landfill gas to electricity at Aguascalientes, Mexico;
• Small scale run-of-river hydroelectricity at SHP Saldanha, Rondônia state, north Brazil (Amazon Region);
• Small scale composting project in mid-western Brazil, the first composting CDM project to be registered in Brazil;
• Yuzaikou Small Hydropower Station, the first hydropower CDM project to be registered in China.

In the voluntary market EcoSecurities develops carbon projects to sell on different markets. Archived 2008-08-20 at the Wayback Machine Carbon offsetting</ref>, recognised by different standards, including the Voluntary Carbon Standard, the California Climate Action Registry standard, and The Gold Standard's Voluntary Emission Reduction standard. These are sold to organisations that have no regulatory obligation to offset their carbon emissions, but wish to do so on a voluntary basis, often as part of a carbon neutrality or corporate social responsibility programmes.

Some of EcoSecurities' current and historic clients include Yahoo!, Fortune Conferences and NetJets Europe.[3]

Voluntary emission reduction projects developed through EcoSecurities include wastewater methane avoidance in Brazil, methane capture for dairies in the United States, small hydroelectric power plant In Brazil, SPM Group pig farms in Thailand, fuel switch from fossil to renewable in Brazil, and waste management improvements in Chile.

Clients include Yahoo!, Fortune Conferences and NetJets Europe.[9] Climate Neutral Network. 2008. “EcoSecurities,” United Nations Environment Programme, https://web.archive.org/web/20080922215844/http://www.climateneutral.unep.org/cnn_contentdetail.aspx?m=336&amid=1870.

• EcoSecurities
• UNFCCC
• JP Morgan
• NetJets