Transparency In Developing Carbon Credits: Part 1 – The Role of the Voluntary Carbon Market

Transparency In Developing Carbon Credits

Quick Links – Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Part 1 – The Role of the Voluntary Carbon Market

ClimeCo strongly believes there should be a comprehensive approach to combat climate change.

Our company’s roots are in the carbon market, developing and commercializing projects that measurably reduce greenhouse gas emissions to generate high-quality global carbon credits. Carbon markets and our carbon credit projects are important tools to finance environmental solutions that would not have occurred otherwise.

Carbon credits are important in accelerating the dual goals of economy-wide decarbonization and nature loss prevention. These are critical goals, yet much of the global economy lacks adequate mechanisms to price the risks and costs of achieving these goals. In certain jurisdictions, regulated markets provide market signals (such as cap and trade programs). The voluntary carbon market is an important, complementary option where regulatory market signals are lacking. Ideally, voluntary carbon market participants seek to mitigate real-time impacts as a part of their ongoing GHG reduction strategies.

For corporations, addressing climate issues is an urgent priority across sectors, often with a central focus on decarbonizing core business activities. But all GHG reductions will not happen at once. While companies work to accelerate this through measures like efficiency, electrification, renewable energy use, and innovations, some emissions will remain. The voluntary carbon market is designed to provide a way for companies to address this gap by financing solutions where they are available and lack other finance mechanisms.

One of these pressing needs is nature loss, which is responsible for 35% of gross global GHG emissions but gets only 3% of climate spending. To meet our collective climate goals, we need $350 billion annually by 2030, targeting this to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. The voluntary market is essential to meeting this goal through quality nature-based credits.

At ClimeCo, we balance our portfolio with various types of projects that mitigate GHG emissions. From removing GHG with nature-based solutions like reforestation and mangrove restoration to destroying them at manufacturing sites before they ever get emitted into the atmosphere, we understand the technicalities and science behind a quality project. With our decades of experience and strong technical team, we are devoted to educating our clients so they can make the best decisions for their sustainability journey.

To help with this effort, we are creating a new 4-part editorial series that will be shared in our company newsletter over the following months. It will provide transparency into how carbon credits are created and will answer the following questions:

How are carbon credits created?
What makes a high-quality carbon credit?
How can we make a difference today?

We hope that the knowledge we share in this series will be an effective tool to advance your company’s decarbonization efforts. We know that not all sustainability journeys are the same, but understanding the process and the science behind it will certainly build confidence in the choices you make for your business.

Next in the series, we will cover how carbon credits are created and why registries, methodologies, baselines, and verification efforts are essential to the process. Click here to read Part 2.

Learn More About ClimeCo by Watching Our Company Video, “It’s Time To Go Beyond.”