Emission Reduction and Financial Feasibility Evaluation of a Household Biogas CDM Project in Viet Nam

Abstract

In developing countries, promoting emission reductions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in rural areas in parallel with achieving improvement of local livelihood is prioritized because large part of GHGs is emitted there. Clean development mechanism (CDM) was institutionalized in the Kyoto Protocol to convert emission reductions achieved in developing countries to carbon credits (CERs) revenue. For emission reduction and cost saving through substituting cooking fuel with biogas, a CDM project introducing household biogas digesters (BDs) to 961 farm households was established in rural area of the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam. The planned emission reductions from the CDM project were 1,403tCO₂•year^-1, nevertheless the CER value of 30US$•tCO₂^-1 in 2008 was found not enough to cover the project cost. The household biogas CDM project was financially unfeasible: however, the methods to introduce BDs or to evaluate emission reductions from BDs clarified in process of the project will be useful when a national emission reduction plan in Viet Nam is formulated in future.