Citi to Purchase 1.17 Million Tonnes of Carbon Credits in Innovative Microfinance Deal with MicroEnergy Credits and Mongolia’s XacBank


In a deal that combines microloans in Mongolia with the sale of carbon credits on the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), Citi’s London-based Environmental Products Trading and Origination team, working with Citi Microfinance, has agreed to purchase 1.17 million metric tonnes of carbon credits over the next seven years from Seattle-based social enterprise MicroEnergy Credits. The carbon credits will be generated by capturing reductions of greenhouse gas emissions following the installation of more efficient household insulation and heating fixtures in Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city in Mongolia. The purchase and installation of the fixtures will be funded through microloans from Mongolia’s XacBank.

“MicroEnergy Credits is proud to partner with Citi in this landmark agreement, which brings microfinance households access to clean energy incentives typically only accessed by large agencies and corporations”

Under the arrangement, a XacBank customer will purchase an energy efficient stove or home insulation products like a “ger blanket,” which covers a ger, the traditional and ubiquitous Mongolian portable tent-like structures in which more than one quarter of the Ulaanbaatar population lives. Gers are traditionally under-insulated and heated by inefficient coal-burning stoves that contribute to Ulaanbaatar’s especially severe air pollution. Ger blankets greatly increase heat retention, and, like energy efficient stoves, lower the rate of fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

The reductions in household emissions accrued through the use of energy efficient fixtures will be earned by XacBank clients and then assigned to MicroEnergy Credits, which develops carbon finance projects and brings clean energy to low income microfinance households in developing countries. MicroEnergy Credits will then quantify, aggregate, and sell the credits to Citi, who will monetize these credits on the open market through its Environmental Products Trading and Origination team. Portions of the proceeds from Citi’s carbon credit purchase will be distributed by MicroEnergy Credits back to XacBank, allowing the Mongolian lender to expand its clean energy program, build additional marketing and distribution centers, and increase access to affordable clean energy loans.

“Citi and our partners collaborate


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *