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Newcastle Municipality: in the (Wonder)bag
The Newcastle Municipality is piloting a project presented by MetGovis that will encourage ratepayers to settle their accounts timeously and earn tradeable carbon credits that can be exchanged for cash. It will also create a totally new income stream for the municipality with a potential in excess of R1 million per annum.
‘All municipalities struggle to recover ratepayer debt,’ says MetGovis managing director Janet Channing. ‘Newcastle Municipality aims to incentivise ratepayers to stay current by rewarding diligent payers with an energy-saving Wonderbag heat-retention cooker.’
The Wonderbag has been registered as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It can reduce a household’s carbon footprint by 500kg per annum and earn credits that can be traded through the European Carbon Credit Exchange. ‘The Wonderbag is one of the few local solutions registered as a Clean Development Mechanism that can actually generate a tradeable carbon savings from its use,’ says Channing.
An important component of earning the carbon credits is for changes in consumer consumption to be measured and quantified. MetGovis provides a GIS platform that makes interpretation of this information as easy as looking at a three-dimensional colour picture where consumption can be measured by property or account holder, and services and rates arrears are mapped by district, ward or street, as required.
‘Newcastle’s embracing of the CDM Wonderbag ticks all the boxes,’ says Channing. ‘Ratepayers are incentivised to keep their municipal accounts up to date, the Wonderbag makes a genuinely positive contribution to the environment, and MetGovis provides the mechanism to verify ratepayer information, monitor changes in consumption patterns and present the facts in an easy-to-use format in order to claim the carbon credits. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, with Mother Earth one of the beneficiaries.’
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The Wonderbag™ heat-retention cooker was South Africa's first Clean Development Mechanism project registered by the UNFCCC, and one of the first in Africa. The MetGovis-presented project will contribute to reducing Newcastle Municipality’s ratepayer debt while being good for the environment. |
