THE GPIC yesterday signed a major carbon emission reduction project with a UAE firm. The agreement was signed with Masdar, a renewable energy and clean technology company in Abu Dhabi.

The project is aimed at monitoring the emission reduction associated with carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and recycling at GPIC's fertiliser facility in Bahrain, under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

The agreement will help reduce more than 100,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year as of 2010.

CDM provides financial incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in countries that do not have binding reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, by turning emission reductions into tradable assets or 'Certified Emission Reductions' (CERs).

"Masdar is introducing the CDM to the hydrocarbon-based fertilizer industry in the Gulf," said its chief executive officer Dr Sultan Al Jaber .

"The CDM provides an incentive to GPIC to develop the CO2 capture project, and we expect this project to pave the way for more carbon reduction initiatives in the industry."

GPIC manufactures fertilisers and petrochemicals, amounting to 1.5 million tonnes of ammonia, urea and methanol per year.

"This project represents an important milestone in GPIC's plans for sustainable growth and we are dedicated to leading the promotion of the CDM within the petrochemical industry," said GPIC general manager Abdul Rahman Jawahery.

"We are the first petrochemical and fertiliser company that opted for the CDM project in the region."