World’s First Cell-Phone-Based Carbon-Micro-Credits Implementation Progressing in Kenya

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Carbon Manna Unlimited announced today the initiation of a worldwide strategic-partnering campaign to support the world’s first roll-out of its cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credit system in Kenya, to include the town of Kogelo, Kenya, U.S. President Barack Obama’s ancestral home town.

The cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credit system employs SMS (simple message service) and unique identifiers to allow millions of families in the Developing World to claim on a bi-weekly or monthly basis the carbon offsets they produce by using more efficient cooking methods such as a modern charcoal stove or solar cooker, instead of an inefficient open-pit fire burning biomass. As a result, each family is able to monetize directly its own contribution to mitigating global warming, while also reducing nationwide rates of deforestation and desertification.

Each family that cooks more efficiently may claim approximately 3 tons of CO2 offsets/year, which is worth about US$ 20 - 35 when sold in Europe on a regulated or voluntary carbon-offset market. The family also saves far more on fuel — from US$ 70 - 150/year. For individuals living on less than US$ 1 - 2/day, these earnings and savings are very significant.

Pre-selling tens or hundreds of thousands of tons of bundled Carbon Micro Credits provides the start-up capital needed to buy stoves and cell phones for the participating families, thus making the system self-funding and markets-based. Later the offsets are crowd-sourced by the tens of thousands of families participating in the program. Lastly, validation and auditing protocols will ensure that the offsets were indeed produced.

Invented in April 2008, Carbon Micro Credits are NOT a form of debt-based microfinance; rather, they provide immediate micro profits to the poor and are therefore similar in concept to frequent flyer miles. They are an asset, not a liability. And like frequent flyer miles, they are a fungible, universal currency and non-inflatable store-of-value.

Companies with a strategic interest in expanding their business in Kenya, East Africa, and later in South & West Africa, are invited to contact Carbon Manna Unlimited’s headquarters in San Diego for further details. Such companies would include:

– cell-phone handset manufacturers

– wireless carriers doing business in Africa

– manufacturers of wireless transmission equipment

– cell-phone accessory suppliers

– providers of cell-phone-based information services or software

– consumer product companies interested in co-promotion campaigns; and

– companies from any industry interested in expanding their presence in Kenya via this highly-visible nationwide effort to reduce deforestation and carbon emissions.

Later this year and in 2010, the Carbon Micro Credits system will be rolled out in other East African countries, and subsequently in multiple West and Southern African countries. For major philanthropies that wish to extend their reach in Africa, or companies with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Triple Bottom Line (TBL) programs, the Carbon Micro Credits system provides a novel, rapidly-scalable paradigm for enriching the livelihoods of tens of millions of poor families anywhere in the Developing World.