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Among the more than 20,000 carbon offset initiatives identified, Solvay selected two projects to offset the emissions of the products in the Carbon Neutral Portfolio.
Fazenda São Nicolau Project
Fazenda São Nicolau is an Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation (ARR) project implemented in the municipality of Cotriguaçu in the northwest of the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. It is a region known as the arc of deforestation in the Amazon, where the original forest has been cut down to create immense pastureland and soybean monoculture areas, impacting the environment and biodiversity.
In addition to the contribution to combating climate change, Fazenda São Nicolau preserves biodiversity and positively impacts the communities that live in the threatened biome.
The project was created in 1998 in a partnership between Peugeot and the Office National des Forêts (ONF), a French organization founded over a hundred years ago, specializing in the planting and management of sustainable forests. The farm belongs to Peugeot. Currently, it is managed by ONF Brazil.
The farm in numbers*:
Fazenda São Nicolau’s activities
- Reforestation - Forest Carbon Sink (1,974 ha)
The reforestation area generates carbon credits. From 1999 to 2004, 2.5 million of native tree seedlings were planted. As they grow, trees capture carbon molecules out of the atmosphere in the process of photosynthesis. The expression carbon sink refers to the fact that the carbon is stored in the trees, generating the credits that are issued by the Verra company based on the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) methodology.
- Forestry Management Area/FMA (5,350 ha)
Divided into sub-areas called Annual Protection Units (APUs), this is where sustainable timber management occurs, supported by technically and scientifically validated methodologies. Part of the wood is extracted and sold, contributing to the generation of revenue to maintain the project. These areas are then left fallow for complete plant regeneration.
- Private Natural Heritage Reserve/PNHR (1,815 ha)
This is an area of pristine, untouchable forest that conserves biodiversity. No kind of economic activity, even if it is sustainable, is allowed. In some areas, even visits are banned. The PNHR is permanent, meaning this status remains even if the land is sold.
- Permanent Preservation Areas/PPA (120 ha)
These are areas around the Juruena River (on the eastern edge of the farm), with springs, streams, and degraded slopes that have been recovered by planting native seedlings.
- Other areas (972 ha)
Clearings, buildings, and common areas of the farm: administrative headquarters, lodgings, the cafeteria, auditorium, corral, vegetable garden, laboratory, workshop, office, water well, chicken coop, and so on.
Other aspects of the project
Scientific research
The Federal University of Mato Grosso and scientific entities, such as the National Institute of Amazonian Research, and France’s Center for Agricultural Research for International Development, among others, use the farm as a basis for the development of dozens of studies that contribute to the generation of knowledge about afforestation/reforestation, biodiversity, and sustainable development.
Social impact
Sustainable nut collection
A partnership with the Brazil Nut Collectors Association in the Juruena Settlement Project. The entity represents about 70 associates who work in the sustainable, commercial harvesting of Brazil nuts at Fazenda São Nicolau and its surroundings. In addition to generating income for the community, this encourages them to see the forest as an important asset that needs to be preserved. Collectors then become guardians who help prevent invasions, illegal logging, and arson.
Environmental Education Program
Each year, about 100 children from schools in the region visit the farm to experience it as a fun and informative learning experience about reforestation, the importance of the forest, agroecology, and sustainable practices. This helps develop a new mentality in children that influences their families.
Ecotourism
The farm can be visited by eco-tourists interested in the project, observing, and photographing the Amazon’s nature and wildlife. Most are foreign tourists. This is a source of financial resources that help fund the project.
A step-by-step guide to carbon credits
The Fazenda Sao Nicolau project is certified by Verra, a non-profit organization that manages the world's leading voluntary carbon markets program, the Verified Carbon Standard Program (VCS). Verra is one of the most widely used carbon offset certifiers.
- Trees sequester CO2.
Each ton of CO2 sequestered by reforestation generates a carbon credit.
The volume of CO2 sequestered is calculated annually by the farm team based on the VCS methodology.
Every five years, the farm is audited by a company accredited by Verra, checking the quantification and calculation of the carbon sequestered in the period.
- Verra-certified carbon credits are traded on an electronic platform.
The purchasing company incorporates the acquired credits into its carbon inventory. When the company uses the acquired credit to reduce its emissions, the credit is formally “retired" in a document.
- In Solvay's case, the carbon credits acquired are used to neutralize products’ carbon footprints.
Amazon APD Grouped Project
The Amazon APD Grouped Project by BRCarbon is a pioneering forest conservation initiative that protects surplus Legal Reserve areas on private properties across the nine states of the Legal Amazon. As a project under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism, in the Avoided Planned Deforestation (APD) category, it transforms the right to deforest into an opportunity for preservation: landowners commit to keeping their forests intact for at least 40 years.
Today, more than 30,000 hectares are already under conservation, ensuring high-integrity climate benefits. Internationally recognized, the Brazilian Amazon APD Grouped Project received an “A” rating from leading carbon rating agencies, including BeZero Carbon, being the only tropical forest REDD+ project certified by Verra to achieve this level. Created in 2021 and managed by BRCarbon, the project stands as a global benchmark in conservation and the generation of high-quality carbon credits.
Activities of the Amazon APD Grouped Project
Image Credit: BR CARBON/divulgação
Monitoring and Fire Prevention
Ensuring the preservation of project areas is essential. BRCarbon uses digital monitoring platforms and an automated alert system to quickly and accurately identify deforestation, degradation, and forest fire hotspots.
The use of drones equipped with LiDAR sensors ensures greater accuracy in measuring, reporting, and verifying forest carbon stocks. This technology enhances credibility and transparency while speeding up measurement activities, enabling coverage of much larger areas in less time.
Additional Biodiversity Benefits
By preventing planned deforestation on private lands, the project safeguards ecosystems that host thousands of plant and animal species, many of them endemic or threatened with extinction. Conserving large, continuous forest areas helps maintain ecological corridors essential for species movement and genetic diversity preservation.
Beyond habitat protection, the project conducts systematic surveys and monitoring of fauna and flora, expanding knowledge about species richness and geographic distribution in regions rarely or never studied before, including identifying endemic and endangered species. Monitoring occurs twice a year—during the dry and rainy seasons—ensuring broader coverage and understanding of seasonality.
To date, more than 800 animal species have been recorded, approximately 350 of them endemic and 29 threatened with extinction, reinforcing the project’s role as a guardian of Amazonian biodiversity.
Other Dimensions of the Project
Social Impact
The Amazon APD Grouped Project by BRCarbon goes beyond forest conservation, promoting a series of social initiatives that strengthen local communities, expand access to basic services, and foster sustainable development. These actions show that the project not only protects the forest but also transforms local realities by improving access to education, health, energy, water, and internet, while strengthening culture, social inclusion, and community economies.
Education
- Construction of one school and renovation of three others, benefiting about 150 students.
- Installation of solar panels, batteries, computers, printers, TVs, and internet access in two schools.
- Hiring of cooks to ensure school meals in two units.
- Drilling of artesian wells in two schools to provide potable water.
Energy and Water
- Installation of 41 kits with solar panels, batteries, water pumps, and freezers in communities.
- Drilling of a community artesian well to expand water access.
Communications and Digital Inclusion
- Installation of 9 towers and about 60 km of fiber optic cable, bringing internet to previously unconnected communities.
Land Tenure
- Donation and regularization of more than 3,000 hectares of land, benefiting 42 families with formal property recognition.
Sustainable Production Chains
- Visits to model farms to promote best livestock practices.
- Mapping of Brazil nut trees and encouraging nut extraction.
- Training in sustainable copaiba oil extraction.
- Support and strengthening of community associations.
- Community exchanges to foster local associations and productive chains.
- Diagnosis and promotion of regional value chains.
Health
- Mobile medical and dental care:
- 259 consultations in 2021
- 1,665 consultations in 2022
Other Actions
- Support and audiovisual documentation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrations in Barreirinha Indigenous Land (Pará).
- Repair of bridges and access roads to communities.
- Formation and training of fire brigades for prevention and firefighting.
- Environmental education workshops to promote awareness and community engagement.
Image: BR CARBON/divulgação
Step-by-Step to Carbon Credits
The Amazon APD Grouped Project is certified by Verra, a nonprofit organization that manages the world’s leading voluntary carbon market program, the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). Verra is one of the most widely used and trusted carbon offset certifiers.
- Landowners waive their legal right to deforest areas of forest on their properties, ensuring vegetation remains standing for 40 years.
- By preventing planned deforestation, the project avoids large amounts of CO₂ emissions. Each ton of CO₂ avoided corresponds to one carbon credit.
- The volume of avoided emissions is calculated annually based on the VCS methodology specific to REDD+ (APD) projects, considering legal deforestation scenarios and comparing them to actual conservation.
- Every 5 years, the forest undergoes an audit by a Verra-accredited company to verify that it remains intact and that avoided emissions calculations are correct.
- Verra-certified carbon credits are traded on an electronic platform.
- The purchasing company incorporates the acquired credits into its carbon inventory. When the company uses the credit to offset its emissions, the credit is “retired,” formalized in a document.
- In Rhodia’s case, the carbon credits purchased are used to neutralize the carbon footprint of products that will become carbon neutral.