Every year, Earth Day presents an opportunity to take stock of the damage inflicted upon our planet, remember its beauty and bounty, and reflect on our role in preserving it.
Eight years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the race to net zero is well underway, and some countries are clearly standing out.
The latest IPCC assessment report reminds us that we need to do much more this decade if we are to limit global warming to 2ºC, and presents the most efficient avenues to meet our climate goals: phasing out fossil fuels and using carbon removal methods in hard-to-abate sectors.
When it comes to climate action, everyone knows we need to reduce our carbon footprint. But what about other greenhouse gases?
Governments around the world are clamping down on greenwashing, and that includes the financial sector. Discover the latest ESG investment regulations that may influence your business.
In order to decarbonize their activities, companies must first understand their carbon footprint according to emissions scopes 1, 2 and 3.
In the pursuit of sustainable solutions to combat climate change, an unexpected hero has emerged: industrial hemp.
Back from the Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW 2022), our Co-Founder and Head of Impact José Lindo shares his thoughts. Op-ed by José Lindo, ClimateTrade Co-Founder and Head of Impact The event that many of us call pre-COP took place last week in Santo Domingo, organized by UNFCCC, UNEP and the World Bank Group with the support of the government of the Dominican Republic. These regional climate weeks provide countries and all their stakeholders with a dedicated forum to discuss solutions to the particular climate threats of their region, in their own language and culture. And considering how difficult it has been to reach global climate agreements, regional summits like these are likely to become key to actually implementing policies that may be localized, but will also be much more ambitious and effective in fighting climate change. Silence regarding a global carbon price I hoped for more climate ambition from the UN and from countries in the implementation of the measures of the Glasgow Pact, particularly since the responsibility of fossil fuels in the climate crisis was highlighted there like never before. But when it comes to decarbonization plans that go beyond the theoretical, as well as a global, ethical and fair GHG price, the radio silence continues. Big plans and renewable energy budgets sound great, but they distract from the real issue: the climate crisis is not being treated with the same urgency or financial resources as the Ukraine geopolitical crisis or the pandemic. The UNFCCC Secretary’s reaction to this issue seems very appropriate to me: at LACCW, he welcomed the initiatives of cities, subnational states, carbon markets, impact investors and tech companies, promoting a new paradigm of decentralization. Cities and private sector initiatives This spark of new hope has an appealing acronym: BINGO, or Business and Industry Non-Governmental Organizations: hundreds of thousands of companies, organizations and private climate investors that are acting fast to counter the urgency of the crisis. It appears as though scaling up the voluntary carbon market is easier than getting 200 countries to sign off on an appropriate global carbon price. We have made the implementation of Article 6 incredibly complicated, getting lost in never-ending debates about which mechanism to use to finance it: Core Carbon Principles (CCP), Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS), International Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) or maybe Carbon Removals Obligations (CRO)? This is causing policy paralysis and inaction, meanwhile several market players – including ClimateTrade – have been designing entire infrastructures aligned with the Paris Agreement and the need for decentralization in governance, financing and the execution of mitigation and decarbonization projects. Empowering local mechanisms If legislative independence and greater climate ambition can be found in cities, let’s create local mechanisms without waiting for clear global rules or a fair carbon price. ClimateTrade’s DLT technology is ready and functional: now let’s form new coalitions and partnerships. I’m leaving LACCW hopeful about the multidisciplinary, Ibero-American, public-private team we are trusting to accelerate ambition, but there remain many tough months and years ahead considering the current geopolitical situation. “Collective action or collective suicide”: I couldn’t agree more with Antonio Gutierres, the UN Secretary General. At ClimateTrade the choice has always been clear – action all the way – and because of that, I beg global leaders to give us freedom and empower us in our efforts.
With the world’s largest climate event just around the corner and extreme weather events already causing mayhem around the globe, expectations are at their peak this year. Here are the five advances ClimateTrade expects from the event in Sharm el-Sheikh. 1. Full acceptance of the work of the Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets The Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets (ICVCM) is doing tremendous work to bring together the entire carbon ecosystem in setting clear guidelines on carbon credit quality and the functioning of the overall market. It is not easy work, and the Council’s attempt to define Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) has been met with resistance, with certain market players, such as Verra, noting that the process being put in place to guarantee the quality of carbon credits would be “unworkable”. We at ClimateTrade firmly believe in the necessity to build integrity in carbon markets, and that will not be possible without the buy-in of all market participants in initiatives like the ICVCM. In response to Verra’s statement, our co-founder and head of impact José Lindo said to Carbon Pulse: “In my opinion, we are overly focusing on the ‘how’, i.e carbon integrity processes, and rather we should start the debate from the ‘why’ i.e the purpose served by the CCPs, and reflect on legitimate requirements voiced by countries, scientists, environmental organizations, indigenous communities and, obviously, voluntary carbon market players.” For this reason, we expect the Conference of the Parties to reaffirm the role of the ICVCM in helping align carbon credit supply with quality and transparency expectations. 2. Final definition of the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 rules Last year in Glasgow, countries clarified some of the rules of Article 6, the part of the Paris Agremeent that governs the functioning of carbon trading between countries. For instance, it was decided that to avoid double counting, the country where the mitigation project is based holds the power to decide whether the credits should go towards its own Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) or be sold internationally, in which case it would be listed as a credit on its records. Negotiations also clarified which of the credits generated under the Clean Development Mechanism (the Paris Agreement’s predecessor) could be brought over to the new system, and set up some rules around taxing carbon trading transactions. But much remains to be defined for Article 6 to become operational. In particular, we expect this year’s conference to determine the mechanisms that will govern the use of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs), the units meant to be used for the international emissions trading between Parties to the Paris Agreement. 3. Regulating the registration of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) Equally, the system for calculating and registering Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the emissions reductions countries decide to achieve every five years, is currently not regulated, which can lead to wide variations in ambition between countries. ClimateTrade expects COP27 negotiations to define rules as to how these contributions are calculated, communicated and adjusted. 4. No changes in Paris Agreement signatories The current geopolitical landscape, particularly the Ukraine-Russia war, could put the future of the Paris Agreement at stake. As seen with the withdrawal of the U.S. from the agreement following the election of Donald Trump, governments have the potential to weaponize the world’s emissions reduction goals to achieve their political ambitions. We hope this year’s Conference of the Parties will see no changes in Paris Agreement signatories or faltering in their commitments. 5. Inclusion of biodiversity in carbon market discussions As our understanding of climate change grows and climate action matures, it is becoming evident that biodiversity protection should be part of the carbon equation. This year will be the 15th edition of the UN Biodiversity Conference, which has been run alongside the climate change conference so far. We expect COP27 to mark a turning point in the way countries approach these two areas of sustainability, and a recognition that the two are inextricably linked. ClimateTrade is already working to protect biodiversity in the same way carbon is offset (through voluntary biodiversity credits) and we believe the nascent nature protection credit system could learn a lot from the development of a working carbon market.