Deal #3738

With support from the World Bank through the Bio Carbon Fund. There are three associations active in Ibi Village: Novacel, GI Agro et Profinaf Invest. They have complementary missions: the exploitation and commercialisation of agroindustrial productions, social and technical development, and the implementation of innovative projects in the field of fight against climate change. Novacel and GI-Agro are controlled by the Mushiete company. A World Bank report states that the presence of the BioCarbon Fund as an early investor led to the French company Orbeo (a joint venture between chemicals company Rhodia and the French bank Société General that has since been bought by Belgian company Solvay Energy Services) making an up-front payment for an equal amount of carbon credits to that of the BioCarbon Fund. The UN Environmental Programme, UNEP, covered some of the costs for technical documents required to prepare a carbon offset project. Two French companies, UMICORE (active in the mining sector) and Suez (an energy corporation), are mentioned as having provided 7-year loans of EUR 250,000 each (charcoal sales were expected to generate revenue from year 7, enabling the repayment of the loans). Several reports also note that two individuals invested a total of EUR 550,000 in the project.