Climate Change Minister Ian Pearson welcomed the approval of the 31 small-scale projects, which bring the number of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) approved projects with UK participation to 124.

Mr Pearson said:

“These projects are an excellent example of how the Clean Development Mechanism can make a difference to the local economy and standard of living in developing countries, encourage clean growth, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Mexico is one of the biggest producers and consumers of oil, so by using methane to generate clean electricity and heat on site, these projects are reducing reliance on a dirty, non-renewable source of power. The techniques that allow this energy to be produced at a lower cost can be replicated around Mexico and exported to the world.

“Pork production is increasingly shifting to developing countries and Mexico is a major producer. By pursuing projects like this one that support producers and local workers, improve the local environment and contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Mexico is playing a major international role and the UK is proud to support their efforts.“

The 31 Mexican projects use methane gas recovered from pig waste at piggeries run by Granjas Carroll, and will mitigate 310,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year by reducing reliance on the Mexican electricity grid.

The environmental benefits include an overall decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, improved air quality, an improvement in waste water quality, and potential for its use in irrigation by neighbouring farms instead of being dumped into clean waterways.

The projects will also create local skilled jobs involved in manufacturing, installing, operating and maintaining equipment and additional employment opportunities in the agri-industrial sector as a result of using recycled water for irrigation on surrounding farms.

ThePigSite News Desk