Singapore's ProClime to develop ARR project in Indian state

Himachal Pradesh has signed its second deal with Singaporean developer ProClime, this time to develop an afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) project in the north Indian state.

ProClime has committed up to $7 million to design the Him Evergreen project, implement it and work with farmers to set up the initiative, which will cover up to 50,000 hectares (ha) of private agricultural land, located across the state's tropical bioclimatic zones, the company said in a statement.

"By scaling afforestation across farmlands, we are empowering farmers to be custodians of our environment while driving long-term ecological and economic sustainability," said Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.

The 40-year-long project will be rolled out in three phases, with the first two encompassing 15,000 ha each, followed by a final phase of 20,000 ha.

A total of 2.5 million trees will be planted on field bunds, which create embankments along the contours of a field, as well as underutilised agricultural land, with ProClime bearing the project's cost.

ProClime said the project will be aligned with "leading international carbon standards" without detailing which standard the project will be registered under.

Farmers will receive a "one-time planting incentive" of INR50 ($0.56) per tree and a share of revenue from the sale of carbon credits for taking part in the project, along with ongoing technical and field support.

"The afforestation model has been structured to work alongside existing agricultural practices, allowing smallhold farmers to integrate trees without disrupting their core livelihood," ProClime said in the statement.

In a separate statement from the Himachal Pradesh Forest department, Chief Minister Sukhu said that farmers would receive benefits of the carbon credit "after five years" as well as a 30% share of the profits made by ProClime.

In August of this year, Himachal Pradesh signed another deal with ProClime to develop India's first state-backed biochar project under which the local population will receive INR2.50 per kilogram of biomass delivered to the project.

The Quantum View: ProClime has struck various deals with Indian states over the past two years, including nature-based, sustainable agriculture, carbon capture, energy efficiency and carbon dioxide removals projects. It also operates projects in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Read the article on Quantum Commodity Intelligence here: https://www.qcintel.com/carbon/article/singapore-s-proclime-to-develop-arr-project-in-indian-state-53677.html