Italian Carbon Fund

In fall 2003, the World Bank entered into an agreement with the Ministry for the Environment and Territory of Italy to create a fund to purchase greenhouse gas emission reductions from projects in developing countries and countries with economies in transition that may be recognized under such mechanisms as the Kyoto Protocol's CDM and JI.

The Fund is open to the participation of Italian private and public entities (e.g. municipalities) and has an initial endowment from Italy of US$15 million provided by the Ministry for the Environment and Territory of Italy.

The Italian Carbon Fund has three main objectives:

• Purchasing emission reductions at a competitive price to reach the reduction targets of the domestic program for the allocation of quotas of permissable emissions
• Promoting international projects in renewable energy and energy efficiency and
• Acquiring knowledge and experience on carbon finance and the carbon market.