Singapore-based Carbon Sync Ventures is making a bold push into the Philippines, aiming to revolutionize the local carbon credit market and channel billion-dollar investments into renewable power. (philstar.com)

In an interview with The STAR, Carbon Sync CEO Wesley Quek outlined the company’s long-term expansion in the Philippines, seeing great opportunities for carbon-abating projects.

On the carbon credit front, he said the Philippines’ archipelagic nature supports vast mangrove forests, which serve as powerful natural carbon sinks.

If properly registered and verified, planting mangroves is considered a carbon credit project, which can generate tradable carbon credits in return.

A carbon credit is a certificate that represents one metric ton of carbon emissions reduced or removed from the atmosphere. Governments and corporations with sustainability targets may purchase such credits to offset their own emissions.

At current market estimates, Quek said that some mangrove projects could fetch around $35 per carbon credit, with prices reaching as high as $150 when backed by “higher data availability and integrity.”

Carbon Sync is primarily engaged in carbon project registration, facilitating the accounting and retirement of carbon credits. It also uses advanced tools to track and report project progress in real time.

Recently, the company secured a strategic investment from Singapore-based asset manager Farosson Group to accelerate the development of carbon credit projects in the Philippines.

The partnership has launched Farosson Digital & AI Technologies, a carbon credit platform powered by artificial intelligence.

The platform aims to deliver end-to-end carbon credit transactions, including certification, marketplace integration and blockchain-enabled retirement.

“What we’re offering is the infrastructure to transact on multiple registries through blockchain technology. For every carbon credit project, we have our own tokens associated with it, and you trade on these tokens themselves,” Quek said.

At present, Carbon Syn and Farosson are closely working with local governments in Sorsogon, Bohol and Oriental Mindoro for carbon credit initiatives aimed at displacing about 3.89 million tons of carbon emissions.

RE investments

Aside from the carbon credit market, Carbon Sync is also making substantial investments in the country’s booming renewable energy (RE) sector, particularly in the wind power space.

“Your wind resource is remarkable. So from a renewable perspective, that makes sense,” Quek said but did not provide further details on the planned investment.

Through Farosson, he said, Carbon Sync could bring in “almost a billion dollars” into a project.

“I think in terms of RE projects, we are looking at gigawatt capacity. Anything smaller wouldn’t make sense, especially if it’s offshore,” he said.

For this planned venture, Carbon Sync engaged with the Department of Energy, which, according to Quek, was “quite happy to have us here.”

He said the company is likewise in “decently advanced talks” with a prospective local partner, although nothing is official yet.

“Our intention really is to have a local partner because from a navigational point of view, it really doesn’t feel good if you’re going to be investing in a country and the local partners don’t invest in you as well,” he said.

Looking ahead, Quek said Carbon Sync envisions developing climate solutions tailored to the needs of local governments and clients here in the Philippines, whether in terms of carbon credits or renewables.

“From the angle of financing as well, I think the role that we want to play is to bring in foreign investments in the country,” he said.