Rio de Janeiro Governor Cláudio Castro, capital markets technology and exchange company Nasdaq and Global Environmental Asset Platform (GEAP) announced an agreement Tuesday aimed at beginning the process of establishing a carbon credits and sustainable assets trading platform in Brazil.

According to Governor Castro, the agreement marks a step towards enabling Rio de Janeiro to play a leading role in the green economy.

Castro said:

“The Rio de Janeiro government team has been working on this protocol for eight months. Nasdaq will provide the technology and the state will offer the environmental assets. Rio is expected to reach a CO2 stock of 73 million tons, representing 25 billion BRL, and each ton can cost an average of US$ 5. The segment is seen as one of the economic recovery alternatives after the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Demand for carbon offset projects that counteract the release of greenhouse gases, and related credits, is expected to increase significantly over the next several years, as companies and businesses increasingly launch net zero ambitions, and turn to offsets as a bridge to their own absolute emissions reduction efforts, or to balance difficult to avoid emissions.

Under the new agreement, the Government of Rio de Janeiro, Nasdaq and GEAP will look to implement policies to certify, issue and trade carbon credits, and Nasdaq will establish a Brazilian subsidiary in Rio de Janeiro.

The new Environmental Assets Exchange is expected to be operating in the second half of this year.

Carlos Patiño, Associate Vice President of Nasdaq Technologies, said:

“Nasdaq is very interested in being part of this kind of initiative. It will be a challenge to participate in this creative project. We have a lot to do, but we are eager to begin this work together with the State of Rio.”

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