Eni launches a major project to protect the Great Limpopo forests in Mozambique

It is the first project ever receiving a REDD+ license from the Mozambican authorities, in a move to boost the preservation of the country’s forests and biodiversity.

Maputo (Mozambique),19 June 2024 - Eni, in partnership with Biocarbon Partners (BCP), is launching the Great Limpopo  project, the largest initiative ever developed in Mozambique to protect forests and counteract deforestation causes in line with the REDD+ framework, defined and promoted by the United Nations.

The program aims to preserve forests within an area up to 4 million hectares across 4 provinces in Mozambique, namely Manica, Sofala, Inhambane, and Gaza. It has been jointly designed with Mozambican institutions at both national and provincial level, as well as with the community leaders and members, and builds on feasibility studies completed by Eni in 2023 involving all the relevant stakeholders to ensure the project’s highest adherence to the area’s specific needs.

In particular, conservation activities aim at reducing forest loss through the active engagement of communities in forestry resources management, coupled with the promotion of climate smart agriculture initiatives and the creation of economic opportunities, involving over 320,000 people. The project will also contribute to the preservation and restoration of biodiversity, by linking major National Parks in Mozambique and South Africa with the communal forest areas to establish natural corridors for wildlife; elephants, lions, cheetahs, and leopards are just some of the endangered species living in the area that will be protected through the project.

Eni will secure a viable, long-term financial flow channeled towards improving livelihoods in the communities by off-taking the carbon credits generated while continuously monitoring the quality and socio-environmental integrity of the Voluntary Carbon Market.

The initiative fits with Mozambique's national strategy on forestry and is aligned with Eni’s approach to producing countries and its net-zero strategy. Eni aims to be carbon-neutral by 2050 by decarbonizing its activities, its value chain and its products with a mix of different levers and technologies, including Nature and Technology Based projects to offset those residual emissions which cannot be abated through existing technologies. By 2050, carbon credits will account for 5% of all the levers used towards the objective of carbon neutrality.

About Eni

Eni has been present in Mozambique since 2006 with a wide range of activities spanning from hydrocarbons production through the Coral South project to initiatives to boost the country’s energy transition; among these, the clean cooking program, which promotes the use of more energy efficient cooking solutions, and the agri-feedstock project that is integrating Mozambique into the biofuel value chain. The company also contributes to improving the country’s economic diversification, access to education and health.

About BCP

BCP’s work is based on the understanding that in order to address deforestation, it has to look deeper and tackle the root causes linked to the economic and social reasons behind deforestation, through a credible form of conservation finance. That puts community, the custodians of the land, at the forefront of using nature-based solutions to tackle climate change. BCP is an African born and based organization that is today crossing borders with the intent of sharing their technical experience and success stories throughout southern Africa. This is part of their strategic plan to support transfrontier conservation, protecting high value biodiversity of over 10mil Hcts by 2024.