Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF)

A partnership between seventeen companies and six governments, and managed by the World Bank, the PCF became operational in April 2000.

As the first carbon fund, its mission is to pioneer the market for project-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions while promoting sustainable development and offering a learning-by-doing opportunity to its stakeholders.

The Fund pioneered this market through pilot production of Emission Reductions within the framework of Joint Implementation (JI) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

In practice, this means that the fund buys CO2 credits from a closed project portfolio of 23 projects in developing countries and in "economies in transition".

The Fund has a total capital of USD180 million and StatoilHydro's share is USD 10 million.

Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF)

The CDCF provides carbon finance to projects in the poorer areas of the developing world.

The Fund, a public/private initiative designed in cooperation with the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, became operational in March 2003.

The CDCF supports projects that combine community development attributes with emission reductions to create "development plus carbon" credits, and will significantly improve the lives of the poor and their local environment.

The first tranche of the CDCF is capitalized at USD128.6 million with nine governments and 16 corporations/organizations participating in it and is closed to further subscriptions.

The StatoilHydro share is USD2.5 million.