1001fontaines and its affiliate TeukSaat receive official UNFCCC registration

This registration is a recognition of 1001fontaines' and TeukSaat's approach to providing safe drinking water in Cambodia, which makes a positive, sustainable contribution to the environment by reducing the use of fossil fuels and the resulting greenhouse emissions. In return for the project's emission reductions, 1001fontaines will receive certified carbon credits. These credits will generate the necessary funding to scale the provision of safe drinking water to additional rural villagers in Cambodia through the setup of local social enterprises.

The project will be furthermore registered under the Gold Standard, whereby the issued credits will receive the Gold Standard label. The Gold Standard label ensures the highest level of environmental integrity, as well as appropriate safeguards, and drives sustainable development in the communities where projects take place.

The three-year project on safe drinking water began in 2013 and followed the rigorous methodology requirements of the CDM. This ensured that 1001fontaines was able transparently to quantify and substantiate the project's emission reductions, as well as its sustainable approach to providing safe drinking water.

This project approach to purifying local sources of water focuses on using solar-powered technology and ultra-violet filtration. Prior to 1001fontaines'/TeukSaat's solution, rural villagers were not able to access safe drinking water without having to boil the water by using wood or other fossil fuels. As of the end of 2016, more than 400,000 villagers in Cambodia, including 100,000 school children, now have daily access to safe drinking water from 1001fontaines/TeukSaat.

To learn more about the 1001fontaines/TeukSaat solution, please read the designated project fact sheet or watch the video shot by the UNFCCC team during the project's registration process.

1001fontaines and TeukSaat are excited about the prospect of using the sales of the project's carbon credits to deploy their sustainable approach to safe drinking water to more villages. The two are working with South Pole Group to create partnerships with organisations interested in purchasing the carbon credits of the project.

The greater the number of villages to which the solution is deployed, the greater the number of carbon credits that will be generated - creating a virtuous circle for broadening the reach of the health benefits of safe drinking water and the environmental benefits of reducing carbon emissions.

Children in Cambodia, drinking water purified by 1001fontaines' solar-powered technology. Image credit: 1001fontaines.

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Notes to editors

About the Clean Development Mechanism: Under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), emission-reduction projects in developing countries can earn certified emission reduction credits (CERs). The CDM has two main goals: to assist countries without emissions targets (i.e developing countries) in achieving sustainable development; and to help those countries with emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol (i.e developed countries) in achieving compliance by allowing them to purchase offsets created by CDM projects.

About 1001fontaines' project - safe water for better health: This project enables local production and distribution of safe drinking water through social enterprises, and ensures that each village is self-sufficient. The project activities improve health outcomes for local people, especially children, whilst also significantly reducing deforestation caused by the need for firewood to boil water - in total the project ensures the mitigation of 15,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. The project is also part of one of South Pole Group's Programme of Activities (PoA), the International Water Purification Programme. PoAs allow small-scale projects to operate as a bundle under one single umbrella document, based on the same methodology and a generic monitoring plan. In other words, small water purification projects are able to fully develop with administrative and financial support from the international carbon trade under this PoA. Find out more about South Pole Group's international PoA and 1001fontaines' project.

Media contacts

Nadia Kahkonen South Pole Group n.kahkonen@thesouthpolegroup.com

Virginie de Maupeou 1001fontaines vi.demaupeou@1001fontaines.com

About South Pole Group

South Pole Group is a leading provider of global sustainability solutions and services. The company has delivered climate-proven solutions to a wide range of public, private and civil society organisations for over a decade. Areas of expertise cover, among others, corporate climate action, investment climate risks, sustainable supply chains, green finance, as well as renewable energy and energy efficiency. A pioneer in emission reduction and renewable energy projects, South Pole Group's portfolio is at present the largest available on the market. For more information, visit www.thesouthpolegroup.com or follow the company @southpolegroup

About 1001fontaines

1001fontaines is a charitable not for profit organisation that creates social enterprises to provide clean drinking water to isolated rural villages with the objective of improving health and creating sustainable employment in those communities. The organisation was founded in France in 2004 and currently operates in Cambodia, Madagascar and India through local affiliates and partners. Its strategic objective is to establish additional partnerships to deploy the solution to further countries, in order to give many more people access to the benefits of clean drinking water. For more information, visit www.1001fontaines.com/en/.