On the occasion of the National Tree Planting Day in the Republic of the Congo, TotalEnergies has launched the "Batéké Carbon Sink" afforestation operations. This large-scale project, conducted in partnership with Foręt Ressources Management, consists of 40,000 hectares of planted forest on the Batéké Plateaux. Some 40 million trees will be planted in total over 10 years and cared for over 35 years.
During the past eight months, local tree nurseries have already produced more than one million plants, which will be progressively planted from the next rainy season on the 800 hectares of land that have been prepared since last summer.
"We are pleased to officially launch the Batéké Carbon Sink project, which is a concrete example of TotalEnergies' commitment to the development of natural carbon sinks, along with others. We warmly thank the Republic of the Congo, whose support for the operation is essential, for its commitment to the preservation of forests and the promotion of afforestation activities," said Nicolas Terraz, President Exploration & Production at TotalEnergies. "TotalEnergies' climate ambition is based on a panel of concrete actions, aiming first to prevent and then to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and finally to offset residual emissions. The planting of a new forest on the Batéké Plateaux is a concrete illustration of this approach, complementing all the other priority measures for preventing and reducing TotalEnergies’ emissions."
The 40,000 hectares planted will create a carbon sink that will sequester an average of 500,000 tons of CO2 per year over twenty years, equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of an average European city of 70,000 inhabitants. The carbon credits will be certified in accordance with the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).
The project, financed by TotalEnergies, includes agroforestry practices developed with the local communities for agricultural production and sustainable wood energy. It will create employment opportunities, with a positive impact on several thousand people. In addition, a local development fund will support health, nutritional and educational initiatives to benefit neighboring villages.
