OHSWEKEN — Six Nations could potentially see up to $800 million dollars in certified emission reduction credits once new parcels of land are added to the community to make way for a solar farm.
This from Six Nations Lands and Membership Director Lonny Bomberry, who reported to Six Nations of the Grand River Political Liaison committee on Monday, and said the addition of 2 parcels of land to make way for the solar farm is being expedited so the community would qualify for a United Nations carbon offset program.
Two properties adjacent to the current boundary of Six Nations near Highway 6 are being expedited to under the Addition of Lands to Reserves and Reserve Creation Act. That legislation came into effect in August 2019.
In 2018, Chief Ava Hill announced Six Nations of the Grand River applied to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Sustainable Development as an autonomous Sovereign Nation.
That status permits SNGR to to participate in the carbon trading market; exchanging value for things like forested area and sustainable electric projects under the Kyoto protocol.
“Six Nations of the Grand River will now be eligible to receive the Certified Emissions Reduction credits through the authority of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Carbon Development Mechanism Executive Board to fund specific climate enhancement projects,” says the statement from 2018.
Bomberry said the the carbon credit project has been in the works since 2014 and this latest step brings SNGR closer to participation.
Another parcel of land was to be added to the project known as the Robinson property at the north-west corner of Highway 6 and Fifth Line. Bomberry told SNGR the land has been in litigation with a squatter since 2006. That property is no longer being pursued as part of the solar farm.
