COMMENT: We need to talk about the EU’s carbon market
If Europe is serious about remaining a frontrunner in meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement, then it urgently needs an ambitious EU ETS reform to clean up its historic addiction to free handouts so the practices of sustainable frontrunners become the market norm, argues Leon de Graaf of #SustainablePublicAffairs.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Climate impact claims to crowd in private sector finance
There is growing interest in uses of the carbon market that do not rely on unique claims, and expanding the use of the voluntary carbon market to accommodate new claims can crowd in even more investment without being limited to a narrowing pool of options available for offsetting, writes Sarah Leugers of Gold Standard.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Voluntary carbon markets – broken more than breakthrough
The voluntary carbon market is supposed to be saving the world. Instead many carbon credit retailers are lining their pockets, warns market veteran and Redshaw Advisors founder Louis Redshaw.
Read MoreECOSYSTEM MARKETPLACE – Shades of REDD+: Corresponding Adjustments, Equity, and Climate Justice
The increasing commoditization of carbon markets makes us forget that behind these board room discussions, there is a real-world problem out there with the plight of real people at stake. While being an invention of the global north, carbon markets came with a great promise for us here in the South. The idea of backing voluntary claims with corresponding adjustments puts this promise at grave risk, writes Sandeep Roy Choudhury – Co-Founder of VNV Advisory Services, Co-Chair of the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA), and Director at the Carbon Initiative Forum.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Growing Pains in the UK ETS
The UK ETS has been up and running for more than a week now, and while it might be stretching things to say that we can already see a few trends, there are nonetheless a few interesting developments worth noting.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Offsetting 2.0 – how ratings can help avoid a race to the bottom
In order to avoid fungibility becoming a race to the bottom, the voluntary carbon market needs tools that recognise the variation in carbon returns and enables the creation of products that capture this variation, according to Sebastien Cross of BeZero Carbon.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Let’s remove ONLY what we can’t avoid
While carbon removals will play a role in mitigating climate change, we cannot afford to take our focus away from the urgent objective of avoiding emitting in the first place, write Sarah Leugers and Owen Hewlett of Gold Standard.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Financing carbon dioxide removals – what role for ETS in the race to net zero?
Carbon pricing and specifically emissions trading systems can play an important role in incentivising removals necessary for achieving Paris Agreement emissions targets, according to the ICAP Secretariat.
Read MoreECOSYSTEM MARKETPLACE – Shades of REDD+: ART, JNR or GCF… Which is Best for Countries?
Carbon finance is growing and countries are faced with an array of choices—including whether to pursue projects, nesting or jurisdictional REDD+, which standards to use in doing so, and what finance opportunity to pursue. The landscape can be a confusing array of options. In this contribution to the Shades of REDD+ series, targeted for forest countries, we try to demystify three opportunities to capture finance for jurisdictional REDD+ performance.
Read MoreCOMMENT: EU carbon’s “fine mess”
Carbon’s been on a bit of a journey in the last week, and to judge from the chatter in the market there really is no end in sight. How high can it go? What can stop it? Who’s going to call the top? Most of the reasons why carbon is rising are clear and not really new. But what *is* new, to me at least, is the “fine mess” that has developed involving natural gas and carbon prices.
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