Anji's "bamboo forest carbon sink" has opened up a new path of "double carbon" common prosperity
"Fifty miles of Kawahara, half of the bamboo is cultivated. "Walking between the green waters and green mountains of Anji County, Huzhou, Zhejiang, on the hills one after another, the verdant bamboo forests are endless. Today, the local bamboo forest of nearly one million acres is not only an important ecological barrier, but also the most important resource storage to achieve the increase of income of the rich people.
As the birthplace of the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", Anji County thoroughly implements the national "double carbon" strategy, focuses on the secondary revitalization of the bamboo industry, innovatively promotes the reform of bamboo forest carbon sequestration, and creates the first national county-level collection and storage trading platform, opening up the "two mountains" transformation channel, and promoting the transformation of ecological resources into ecological economy.
Break through the development dilemma and "sleep" the bamboo forest "live".
In the early spring morning, the hill of Dali Village, Shanchuan Township, Anji County has become lively. "This forest is relatively barren, we must quickly comb it and strengthen maintenance" "A forest road must be opened here, otherwise it will be difficult for the bamboo to go down the mountain"...... On the other side, bamboo forest maintenance workers are trimming the bamboo forest, cutting down the old bamboo, and making room for the growth of new bamboo.
"In the past few years, the price of moso bamboo has been low year after year, and the labor cost is high, sometimes the cost of selling a season of moso bamboo can not be recovered, and now as long as the moso bamboo forest is raised and managed well, the 'bamboo leaves' can become 'money tickets'. Ying Zhongdong said.
The second "revitalization" of the bamboo industry stems from the reform of bamboo forest carbon sequestration.
Anji has the reputation of "China's No. 1 Bamboo Township", and 75% of the farmers in the county live on bamboo. However, in recent years, affected by factors such as changes in the market environment, improvement of environmental protection standards, and rising regional labor costs, the bamboo industry, which used to sell bamboo, has fallen into difficulties, the price of bamboo has fallen, and the enthusiasm of forest farmers to raise bamboo has declined.
As early as 2010, Anji County cooperated with professional academic institutions to conduct research on bamboo forest carbon sequestration, built a carbon sequestration flux observation tower for moso bamboo forests, and formed research results such as "Methodology of Bamboo Forest Management Carbon Sequestration Project" filed and published by the National Development and Reform Commission. It is estimated that the carbon storage of Anji bamboo forest forest vegetation is 1.34 million tons, and the annual carbon sink is only 00,500 tons. In 2021, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and other ten ministries and commissions jointly issued a document to encourage local governments to build bamboo forest carbon sink trading platforms and carry out carbon sink trading pilots.
The news made Angie very excited. In December 2021, the country's first bamboo forest carbon sequestration trading center, Anji "Two Mountains" Bamboo Forest Carbon Sequestration and Storage Trading Center, was launched. In December of the same year, Anji "Liangshan Cooperative" signed a carbon inclusive trading agreement with the Hangzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate, completing the first centralized transaction of 352 tons of bamboo forest carbon sink in the province, with a turnover of 35,000 yuan. In 2022, the Zhejiang Provincial Dual Carbon Office will include Anji in the first batch of pilot counties for forestry sink increase, and Anji will fully open the bamboo forest carbon sink trading pilot. Up to now, Anji County has completed the trading of 46,000 tons of carbon sinks in the province, with a total sales amount of 3.836 million yuan.
"Our county identified the ecological advantages of 870,000 acres of bamboo forest, studied and formulated the implementation plan for the construction of bamboo forest carbon sequestration trading market in Anji County, adhered to the 'government guidance, market operation, joint promotion, and national participation', and through the establishment of the '2+3+3' bamboo forest carbon sequestration trading system, connected to the supply and consumption of '2' ports, associated with the '3' strategy of low-carbon, ecological county, and common prosperity, and developed and created '3' low-carbon scenarios for production and operation, living consumption, and large-scale activities. The relevant person in charge of the Anji Branch of the Huzhou Ecological Environment Bureau told reporters.
119 bamboo professional cooperatives have been established in 178 villages in the county, with a total of 840,000 mu of bamboo forests, and the annual carbon sink can reach 330,000 tons according to the carbon sequestration capacity of 0.39 tons/mu. Since then, the new word "carbon sink" has also begun to appear in the lives of villagers.
Open up transaction channels and stimulate the enthusiasm of multiple parties
In this regard, Anji has established a full-chain system of "forest land transfer, carbon sink collection and storage, base management, platform trading, and income feedback" to realize the "measurable, mortgageable, tradable, and realizable" carbon sink.
On the big screen of the digital intelligence platform of Anji Liangshan Cooperative, the reporter saw that the location of each piece of nearly one million acres of bamboo forests in Anji County, which villager it belongs to, how much carbon sink value can be generated, and the collection, storage and trading of carbon sinks are clearly visible.
At the same time, for the bamboo forest resources approved and confirmed by the County Resource Planning Bureau, the average trading value of carbon emission allowances (CEA) in the national carbon market in the past 30 trading days is used as the unit price of collection and storage, and the collection and storage agreement is signed with the township (village collective) to open up the collection and storage link of bamboo farmers, village cooperatives and counties "Liangshan Cooperatives".
"Specifically, the forest rights of farmers will be transferred to the village professional cooperatives first, and the Liangshan cooperatives will collect and store them, and their subordinate Qiangcun Fumin Group will be fed back to the village cooperatives after business transactions, so as to increase the income of forest farmers. Wang Xiaogang, general manager of Anji Liangshan Ecological Resources Asset Management Co., Ltd., introduced.
The first practice of Anji bamboo forest carbon sequestration has benefited from targeted and precise green finance reform and innovation.
"Anji Urban Investment Group, the parent company of Liangshan Bamboo Forest Carbon Sequestration Storage and Trading Center, has acquired a 'carbon sequestration storage loan' from the bank with the right to operate 840,000 mu of 30-year bamboo forest, and 10.2 billion yuan of circulating funds as the share capital of Gongfu will be invested in the county's construction of 10 Gongfu Industrial Parks, 1,000 Gongfu Homestays, 3,000 kilometers of 'Colorful Gongfu Road' and other value-added and profitable projects to promote the improvement of rural public services and industrial integration and development. Wang Xiaogang said.
Anji makes full use of financial support tools to guide and encourage financial institutions to innovate and launch green financial products such as carbon sink common wealth loans, carbon sink collection and storage loans, and carbon sink benefit enterprise loans, implement financial concessions for carbon purchasing enterprises, and implement insurance support for carbon bamboo farmers, so as to guide more enterprises to actively participate in carbon sink trading, more bamboo farmers can operate bamboo forests with peace of mind, and promote a virtuous cycle of bamboo forest carbon sink producers and consumers.
Anji Dacheng Paper Co., Ltd. originally borrowed 29 million yuan, with an annualized interest rate of 5.78%, and the company purchased 2,101 tons of carbon sinks from Anji "Two Mountains" Bamboo Forest Carbon Sequestration Storage and Trading Center, and paid 116,000 yuan. Anji Rural Commercial Bank converted its loan into a "carbon sink benefit enterprise loan" with an annualized interest rate of 5.28%, which saved the enterprise 145,000 yuan in interest expenses a year. "Spending money neutralizes some of carbon emissions, and it forces companies to promote green transformation. Lu Zuoqin, general manager of the company, said.
Resources come from the hands of the peasants, and the benefits return to the peasants
Bamboo forest carbon sequestration is connected to low-carbon emission reduction on the one hand, and rural revitalization on the other.
In order to maximize farmers' sense of gain, expand the scope of benefits, and realize the goal of strengthening the village and enriching the people, Anji aims to "strengthen the collective economy and promote common prosperity", and feeds 80% of the net income from the bamboo forest carbon sink transaction back to the village collectives and townships that are collected and stored, and guides the villagers to actively participate in the excess income obtained by the bamboo forest carbon sink after the basic share is transferred, so as to realize the rent (bamboo forest circulation income), share distribution (cooperative share dividends), and salary (salary income from operating bamboo forest).
"Get real money!" A few days ago, the villagers of Shuangyi Village, Changshuo Street, Anji received a New Year's "gift" - the first dividend of the village's bamboo forest carbon sequestration and common prosperity project. Villagers who rushed to hear the news lined up in front of the village committee, checking the amount, signing for confirmation, and receiving checks, all of them smiling.
It is understood that Shuangyi Village has 15,000 acres of bamboo forests, and only 60% of them are in normal maintenance and operation, and the villagers need to take care of them themselves. This time, 763 households and 2,575 registered people in the village shared 3,347,500 yuan in dividends, and each person could get 1,300 yuan.
"In the past, the income of 'selling bamboo' was less than 10,000 yuan every two years, but now after the unified operation, this part of the income is still correct, and there are more annual dividends. Zhu Zhuqing, a villager of Shuangyi Village, said happily.
"With money, I have the confidence to engage in projects and make investments. At the scene, Zhu Xuexing, secretary of the general party branch of Shuangyi Village, and the village team discussed how to use the next income and village collective dividends. He said that the village is implementing bamboo forest management projects, such as hardening 16.6 kilometers of forest roads leading to the mountain, investing 6 million yuan to build bamboo decomposition points...... "bamboo forest carbon sink reform to gather resources to the village collective, we must better protect the bamboo forest ecology, use new technologies, new equipment to do a good job in bamboo forest management, the development of forest-related industry projects, drive the development of other business formats, enhance the value of bamboo forest." Zhu Xuexing said.
The bamboo forest carbon sink is like a gust of spring breeze, blowing the corners of the bamboo township. At present, 99% of the county's forest farmers have participated in it and enjoyed dividends, with a per capita dividend of more than 1,500 yuan in 2023, and a dividend of 300 million yuan in the county's bamboo forest carbon sink and common wealth shares, benefiting a total of 51,000 households and 180,000 bamboo farmers.
Bamboo and bamboo, mountains and mountains, far and near, boundless, this green bamboo all over the mountains is continuing to write a new story of common prosperity. Next, Anji County will accelerate the inclusion of the "Bamboo Forest Carbon Sequestration Management Project Methodology" into the national CCER methodology system as soon as possible, boost the high-quality development of the bamboo industry, and integrate more bamboo forest carbon sinks into the national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market, so that the story of common prosperity will go deeper, to the heart, and to the truth.
