OREANDA-NEWS. BM&FBOVESPA will start annual compensation of its greenhouse gas emissions that cannot be reduced, thus becoming carbon neutral. This initiative is being backdated to 2011 and 2012 and seeks among other things to encourage the adoption of best sustainability practices by listed companies and by the market as a whole. This course of action is also in line with the Exchange's Sustainability Policy - approved by the Board of Directors in 2013 - and cements the commitment to business initiatives related to climate change.

To compensate these two years' emissions, 7,148 carbon credits (or 7,148 tons of CO2 equivalent) have been bought, within the scope of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol and named Certified Emission Reductions (CERs). The carbon credits that the Exchange has purchased have been generated by the following small-scale renewable energy projects registered with the United Nations (UN): Central Energetica do Rio Pardo - Cogeneration Project (Cerpa); BT Geradora de Energia Eletrica S.A - Ferradura Small Hydro Power Plant; Araputanga Centrais Eletricas S.A. - Arapucel Small Hydroelectric Power Plants Project; Rialma Companhia Energetica III S/A - Santa Edwiges III Small Hydro Power Plant.

Compensation of greenhouse gas emissions is one more step in the work that began in 2009, when BM&FBOVESPA made its first greenhouse gas emissions inventory (as of 2010 the inventory became an external assessment), seeking to identify, manage and reduce the environmental impact of its business and to contribute voluntarily to global efforts to stabilize climate change.